Court rejects fresh plea to reinsert Schiavo’s feeding tube

FOR the second time in less than a day, a federal appeals court yesterday rejected a bid by Terri Schiavo’s parents to have her feeding tube re-inserted.

Florida lawmakers, meanwhile, debated another last-ditch effort to prolong her life.

In a 10-2 decision, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, refused Bob and Mary Schindler’s request for an “expedited rehearing” by the full court. A three-judge panel from the court ruled against the family earlier yesterday.

The court did not immediately give an explanation for its decision. The parents have vowed to take their fight to the US Supreme Court, which has refused to get involved previously.

Supporters of the parents grew increasingly dismayed by the developments, and 10 protesters were arrested outside Ms Schiavo’s hospice for trying to bring her water. The severely brain-damaged woman’s mother pleaded, again, to keep her daughter alive.

“When I close my eyes at night, all I can see is Terri’s face in front of me, dying, starving to death,” said Mrs Schindler.

“Please, someone out there, stop this cruelty.

“Stop the insanity. Please let my daughter live.”

Terri Schiavo has not received any nourishment since the tube was pulled Friday afternoon.

By late yesterday, Terri’s eyes were sunken, her skin was parched and flaking and her lips and tongue were parched, said Barbara Weller, an attorney for the Schindlers.

Doctors have said she could survive one to two weeks without the feeding tube.

A lawyer for Michael Schiavo said he was “very pleased” by the initial appeals court ruling.

But he worried that, as her parents ran out of options, either Florida Governor Jeb Bush or lawmakers might try again to take Terri Schiavo into their custody and circumvent years of court rulings that support the husband’s position.

He has argued that his wife has no hope of recovery and would want to die.

“They have no more power than you or I or a person walking down the street to say we have the right to take Terri Schiavo,” lawyer George Felos said in a state court hearing.

In Tallahassee, the state capital, Mr Bush renewed his call for the Legislature to “spare Terri’s life.”

A lawmaker said yesterday was the Senate’s last chance to pass a bill to keep her alive.

Senator Daniel Webster was scrambling to secure votes to pass a bill that would prohibit patients like Ms Schiavo from being denied food and water if they didn’t express their wishes in writing.

A similar measure brought last week by Mr Webster was defeated 21-16.

Senate Democratic Leader Les Miller said the new bill faced a similar fate to one that was pushed through in 2003 to reconnect the tube six days after it was removed. “By the time the ink is dry on the governor’s signature, it will be declared unconstitutional, just like it was before,” Mr Miller said.

“So I don’t see anything or any language that can persuade my vote.”

US President George W Bush suggested that he and Congress had done their best to help the parents prolong Ms Schiavo’s life, and the White House said it has no further legal options.