U.S. President George W. Bush has signed into law emergency legislation passed by the U.S. Congress that helps prolong the life of brain-damaged Florida woman Terri Schiavo.

The House of Representatives passed it shortly after midnight on Monday by a 203-58 margin after the Senate unanimously supported it on Sunday.

Bush returned from his Texas vacation on Sunday to deal with the matter.

"We are very very thankful to have crossed this bridge," Suzanne Vitadamo, Schiavo's sister, told reporters after the vote.

"We are hopeful, we are very hopeful, that the federal courts will follow the will of Congress and save my sister's life."

Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, said Sunday afternoon the bill didn't guarantee an outcome, but did expect feeding would be resumed until the case is heard in a federal court.

The legislation gives Schiavo's parents the right to file suit in a federal court over the withdrawal of food and medical treatment needed to sustain their daughter's life.

The legislation says after determining the merits of the suit, the court "shall issue such declaratory and injunctive relief as may be necessary to protect the rights" of Terri.

Background

Schiavo, 41, has been in a persistent vegetative state for the past 15 years. She had suffered from an eating disorder. Complications from that condition caused her heart to stop beating, depriving her brain of oxygen.

Her husband Michael Schiavo, her legal guardian, has said Terri didn't want to continue existing in such a condition.

He won a court ruling on Friday ordering that Terri's feeding tube be removed. It is expected she could only survive about two weeks without food or water.

However, Terri's parents and siblings are fiercely opposed to her being allowed to die.

"We laugh together, we cry together, we smile together, we talk together. She is my life," her mother Mary told reporters Saturday.

Court-appointed physicians have testified that Schiavo's brain damage is so severe she will never regain her cognitive abilities.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. and other lawmakers on the side of Schiavo's parents rejected the "vegetative" description.

"She laughs, she cries and she smiles with those around her. She is aware of her surroundings and is responsive to them," he said. "This is a woman who deserves a chance at life and not a death sentence of starvation and dehydration."

Congressman Barney Frank (D., Mass) thought lawmakers were highly unqualified to rule on medical matters.

"The caption tonight ought to be: We're not doctors, we just play them on C-SPAN," he said.

Only in the U.S.?

A Canadian medical ethicist told CTV News this scenario couldn't play out in Canada.

Wayne Sumner said those lawmakers who supported the legislation were ignoring Michael Schiavo's rights as legal guardian.

"In Canada, the legal situation would, should be perfectly clear: He would be recognized at the legal decision-maker and his decision would have been upheld," Sumner said.

With a report from CTV's Denelle Balfour and files from The Associated Press