Schiavo Legislation Signed by President Bush

President Bush early this morning signed the legislation allowing a federal judge to hear the Terri Schiavo matter. Still too early to tell what will come of this, but at least it opens some doors that were previously unavailable.

In a post about this, Michelle Malkin notes that a couple of bloggers (Xrlq and NZPundit) have located Florida's statutory definition of persistent vegetative state, which I reproduce below:

“Persistent vegetative state” means a permanent and irreversible condition of unconsciousness in which there is:

(a) The absence of voluntary action or cognitive behavior of any kind.

(b) An inability to communicate or interact purposefully with the environment.

Now, I am not a doctor and my reaction is based solely on about 15 seconds of video that I have seen of Terri Schiavo (and I don't know when it was shot), but if the video is representative of Mrs. Schiavo's current condition, it sure seems to me that she does not meet at least subsection (a) of the statute. At the very least, there should, in cases like this, be a presumption that any ambiguities will be resolved in favor of life. I hope the Federal Courts see it that way, too.

Link