Daughter of a patient
on a feeding tube

Parallels to mother
hit home for Lingle

Watching the courts and Congress debate Terri Schiavo's fate, Gov. Linda Lingle says she thinks of the issue as a daughter, not as a politician.

In a meeting with editors and reporters at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin yesterday, Lingle was asked for her thoughts on the case of Schiavo, the Florida woman who suffered brain damage in 1990. Doctors have said the 41-year old woman is in a vegetative state with no hope of recovery, and she relies on a feeding tube to keep her alive.

Lingle said the issue is an emotional one for her because her own mother is on a feeding tube.

"My feeling watching this has been as a human being, not as a governor, and I think it is very sad," she said.

Lingle said she did not know the legal issues surrounding the vote in Congress that allowed Schiavo's parents to ask a federal judge to prolong their daughter's life by reinserting her feeding tube, against the wishes of Schiavo's husband.

"My mom has a feeding tube. She lives in a nursing home. ... She is still alert, in my opinion, when I go there and I talk to her.

"She knows it is me, and I am not going to be the one to say" remove the feeding tube, Lingle said.

While not commenting on the dispute between Schiavo's parents and husband, Lingle said she would want her own fate in her parents' hands.

"Who would I want to make a decision for me? Let's say I was in such a state, would I want a husband ... or my parents? I would rather my parents," Lingle said.

Lingle visits her mother in California several times a year and has championed efforts to extend mental health benefits in prepaid insurance laws.

Previously, Lingle has said that her mother had a bipolar disorder and was diagnosed more than 40 years ago. Before a legislative committee in 2003, Lingle said she knew of the hardships that mental illness can cause for those suffering and their families.

"My mom is a terrific person. She just has a chemical imbalance in her brain, and as I told the committee, it's like any other illness that should be covered by health insurance," Lingle said after the hearing.