-Messenger file photo
Steven Hendricks, a Fort Dodge attorney, said Iowa law has been written and updated to avoid forcing a courtroom battle. This was in response to the court battle when the parents of Terry Schiavo were trying to have their daughter’s feeding tube reinserted to keep her alive. The Florida woman was severely brain-damaged since her heart had stopped briefly in 1990. Her husband stated that she would not wish to be kept alive under those circumstances, but her parents took their case to the court system.