Here's the final vote on the compromised version of Terri's bill in the US House:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll090.xml
The US Senate used a voice vote:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:SN00686:@@@X
Here's the co-sponsors that were supporting Terri's bill on one of the earlier versions:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:SN00653:@@@P
This may help us sort the good guys from the bad guys. It looks like the Senate members didn't put their votes on record.
I've been doing research on when food and water became a life-prolonging procedure in Florida and who was Governor at the time.
It looks like 1999 is correct and that Governor Bush signed it into law.
End-of-life Care:
06/11/1999 Approved by Governor; Chapter No. 99-331
The definition change for what is a life-prolonging procedure was introduced by the Committee on Health, Aging and Long-Term Care and Senator Klein
Jeb Bush was elected in Nov. 1998 and reelected in Nov. 2002. So, he should have been Governor on 6/11/1999 when the changes were put into effect.
This is the way it read prior to 1999 changes:
1998:
9) "Life-prolonging procedure" means any medical procedure, treatment, or intervention which:
(a) Utilizes mechanical or other artificial means to sustain, restore, or supplant a spontaneous vital function; and
(b) When applied to a patient in a terminal condition, serves only to prolong the process of dying.
The term "life-prolonging procedure" does not include the administration of medication or performance of medical procedure, when such medication or procedure is deemed necessary to provide comfort care or to alleviate pain.
1999 through 2004: (2005 not listed yet)
(10) "Life-prolonging procedure" means any medical procedure, treatment, or intervention, including artificially provided sustenance and hydration, which sustains, restores, or supplants a spontaneous vital function. The term does not include the administration of medication or performance of medical procedure, when such medication or procedure is deemed necessary to provide comfort care or to alleviate pain.
The definitions are in chapter 765 of the Florida Statutes, specifically:
PART I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
765.101 Definitions.
I can not think of any other reason for the change in this law, except to make it easier to eliminate people like Terri. Jeb Bush allowed this change by signing it into law. He must now take political responsibility for signing this law.