Mr. Bush made the suggestion while speaking at a recent “Politics and Eggs” forum in Manchester, N.H. During the forum, he was asked about his handling of the case of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman whose story made national headlines due to her husband’s desire to have her feeding tube removed and her parent’s conflicting position of wanting to keep it in tact. Mr. Bush signed “Terri’s Law” in 2003, a law that allowed him to intervene in the case. However, the Florida Supreme Court subsequently ruled that the law was unconstitutional.
“It was one of the most difficult things I had to go through,” Mr. Bush said, according to The New York Times. “It broke my heart that we weren’t successful in sustaining Terri’s life.”
Looking back, Mr. Bush said, he would have loved to have seen an advance directive where the family would have sorted the issue out before courts got involved, according to the report.
“I think if we’re going to mandate anything from government, it might be that if you’re going to take Medicare, you also sign up for an advance directive where you talk about this before you’re so disabled,” Mr. Bush added.
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