US lawmakers said on Friday the have issued a congressional subpoena to keep alive Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at the centre of a heated debate over the right to die.The lawmakers — House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis of Virginia — support the reform committee’s inquiry into long-term care of incapacitated or non-ambulatory adults. The subpoena will be joined by a Senate investigation, they said.‘‘This inquiry should give hope to Terri, her parents and friends, and the millions of people throughout the world who are praying for her safety,’’ the statement said. ‘‘This fight is not over.’’Schiavo has been fed through a tube since she suffered an incapacitating heart attack in 1990. Her husband, Michael, contends she would not have wanted to be kept alive in what court-appointed doctors describe as a persistent vegetative state. Her parents dispute this, saying she responds to them and could improve with rehabilitation.‘‘Tom DeLay and Dennis Hastert are not members of the Politburo in Stalinist Russia,’’ Michael Schiavo’s lawyer, George Felos said. ‘‘The state does not own Mrs Schiavo’s body and Congress cannot simply order her to remain alive contrary to her medical treatment wishes and court order.The only subpoena Congress can issue is to appear before a congressional body.’’The House of Representatives on Wednesday and the Senate on Thursday passed legislation aimed at prolonging Schiavo’s life, by allowing federal courts to review the case. But the US Supreme Court declined to step in, sending the matter back to a Florida court.On Thursday, several senators announced they were still holding talks and Congress might return on Monday to work on the Bill. In a White House statement, President George Bush said: ‘‘In instances like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws, and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life.’’
