|
 |
| The US Senate passed legislation that
congressional leaders hope will keep alive a heavily brain-damaged
Florida woman, Terri Schiavo (R), who has been fed artificially for
15 years. |
Warning that Terri Schiavo was "fading quickly" and might die at any
moment, her parents begged a federal appeals court Tuesday to order the
severely brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reinserted.
David Gibbs III, attorney for parents Bob and Mary Schindler, told the
11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta that the 41-year-old woman
might die before they could get a chance to fully argue their case that
her rights are being violated. The appeal came after a federal judge in
Tampa rejected the parents' emergency request.
"Where, as here, death is imminent
, it is hard to imagine more critical and exigent
circumstances," Gibbs said in the appeal filed electronically
with the court. "Terri is fading quickly and her parents reasonably fear
that her death is imminent."
There was no immediate indication of when the appeals court might rule.
Even before the parents' appeal was filed, the woman's husband urged
the 11th Circuit not to grant an emergency request to restore nutrition.
"That would be a horrific intrusion upon Mrs. Schiavo's personal
liberty," said the filing by Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos. He
filed a response to the Schindlers' appeal and said he would go to the
U.S. Supreme Court if the tube were ordered reconnected.
The Schindlers have been locked for years in a battle with Schiavo's
husband over whether her feeding tube should be disconnected. State courts
have sided with Michael Schiavo, who insists his wife told him she would
never want to be kept alive artificially.
Late in the afternoon, the Schindlers arrived at
the hospice , and
Terri's mother again pleaded with state lawmakers to save her daughter's
life.
"Please, senators, for the love of God, I'm begging you, don't let my
daughter die of thirst," Mary Schindler said.
With that, she broke down and was escorted away.
In court documents, the couple said their daughter began "a significant
decline" late Monday. Her eyes were sunken and dark, and her lips and face
were dry.
"While she still made eye contact with me when I
spoke to her, she was becoming increasingly lethargic
," Bob Schindler said in the papers. "Terri
no longer attempted to verbalize back to me when I spoke to her."
The feeding tube was disconnected on Friday. Doctors have said Terri Schiavo
could survive one to two weeks without water and nutrients.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2005-03-23 11:12