I have no strong opinions on the Terri Schiavo case attracting a lot of media coverage at the moment (though I did find this observation by Juan Cole to be eyebrow raisingly intriguing). However my understanding of the issues isn't helped by reporting such as this (emphases mine):
senators rejected a bill that would have prohibited patients like Schiavo from being denied food and water if they did not express their wishes in writing.
I've read this sentence four times now and I'm still not sure what the bill's about.