US: Terri Schiavo's fate was in the hands of a Florida judge last night after President George Bush signed an emergency bill in the early hours to refer the case of the brain-damaged woman to a federal court.
The parents of 41-year-old Ms Schiavo, who is in what doctors call a "permanent vegetative state", asked the judge to re-insert a feeding tube that was removed on the order of a Florida state judge last Friday.
At 3pm (8pm Irish time) yesterday, Judge James Whittemore began a new hearing in the case as required by the bill rushed through both houses of Congress.
Mr Bush, who returned especially to Washington from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on Sunday, got out of bed in the White House just after 1am to sign the legislation.
The case has ignited fierce debate across the United States about the right to life of someone in a permanent vegetative state.
No one has ever returned to normalcy from such a state, according to the American Academy of Neurology, but Terri Schiavo's parents claim she is responsive and should be kept alive. Her husband Michael Schiavo, who has fought for years to end his wife's life, said he was outraged that Congress and the president had intervened.
"This is a sad day for Terri," he said. "But I'll tell you what: It also is a sad day for everyone in this country because the United States government is going to come in and trample all over your personal, family matters."
By its action Congress overturned the decision of the Florida supreme court and the ruling of no fewer than 16 Florida judges over the years - that it was Terri Schiavo's wish not to prolong her life.
The unprecedented move was backed by Republican leaders as a "right-to-life" issue but this explanation was greeted with scepticism by most Americans.
In a poll for ABC News, 70 per cent deemed the congressional intervention inappropriate, while 67 per cent said they believed the decision to recall Congress members from Easter recess for the vote was politically motivated.
Sixty-three per cent of those surveyed said they supported the removal of Ms Schiavo's feeding tube.
Mr Bush explained his decision to sign the bill by saying that "in extraordinary circumstances like this, it is wise to always err on the side of life".
Christian conservatives, who supported Mr Bush's re-election, had bombarded Congress and the White House with appeals to save the life of Ms Schiavo, who suffered permanent brain damage in 1990.
They got backing from Rome yesterday when the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano criticised the removal of the feeding tube, saying nobody can claim the right to decide whether a person lived or died.
After Mr Bush signed the bill, a shout of delight was heard from a crowd supporting the parents outside the Florida hospice where Ms Schiavo is a patient.
Later a lawyer for Ms Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, arrived at the federal district court in Tampa and filed a request for an emergency injunction to keep their daughter fed. The case was assigned to US district judge James Whittemore, who was nominated to the court in 1999 by then president Bill Clinton. He immediately began to review the case papers and set a hearing for mid-afternoon.
Ms Schiavo could survive for one or two weeks if the feeding tube is not re-inserted.
The bill passed in Congress applies only to Ms Schiavo and was supported by 203-58 votes but raises constitutional questions about state rights.