As Terri Schiavo drew closer to death Saturday, a Florida state judge rejected another attempt by the brain-damaged woman’s parents to reconnect her feeding tube, leaving the couple with little hope they could keep her alive.

A US government appeals court panel refused to order the reinsertion of brain-damaged Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube, hours after her father said she was weakening and down “to her last hours”.

Their options dwindling after losing two consecutive court appeals, Terri Schiavo’s parents vowed today to take their fight to the US Supreme Court as their brain-damaged daughter was in her fifth full day without a feeding tube.

A US federal appeals court in Atlanta today refused to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube, denying an emergency request by the severely brain-damaged woman’s parents.

A lawyer for the husband of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman at the centre of a life-or-death legal battle, says he expects a court ruling today.

The parents of Terri Schiavo asked a judge to reinsert their brain-damaged daughter’s feeding tube today, following an extraordinary political fight that consumed both chambers of Congress and prompted the US president to rush back to the White House.

While Terri Schiavo lay dying in her hospice bed early today, the US Congress gave a boost to the hopes of the brain-damaged woman’s parents that her feeding tube would be reinserted.

THE US Congress yesterday put off action on a bill aimed at prolonging the life of a brain-damaged woman who had her feeding tube removed by court order.

THE husband of a brain-damaged American woman at the centre of a bitter right-to-life battle plans to argue in court next week that Governor Jeb Bush’s order that led to her feeding tube being reinserted is unconstitutional.

A HOSPITAL has begun giving fluids to a brain-damaged woman, six days after her feeding tube was removed in one of America’s longest and most bitter right-to-die battles.