Right-to-die parents lose final appeal

PINELLAS PARK, Florida - The US Supreme Court has rejected a plea from the parents of Terri Schiavo to restart her feeding, leaving them nearly out of options and time in the seven-year legal fight for their brain-damaged daughter's life.

The highest US court turned away Bob and Mary Schindler's request for an emergency order to reinsert Schiavo's feeding tube, which was removed six days ago. The court did not explain its decision to stay out of the Florida family drama that was taken up by Congress and President George W. Bush.

A Florida court rebuffed another last-ditch attempt to prolong Schiavo's life by Governor Jeb Bush, the president's brother. The Republican governor wanted a state welfare agency to take custody of the 41-year-old woman who suffered brain damage from a cardiac arrest when she was 26.

The court decisions signify the end was near in the wrenching legal dispute between Schiavo's husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, and her parents over whether she should live or die, a case that snowballed into an emotional and highly politicised drama.

"We are very grateful for the court's ruling and we believe it effectively ends the litigation in this case," Michael Schiavo's lawyer, George Felos, said after the Supreme Court decision.

Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was disconnected under a Florida court order last Friday and doctors expected her to live a week to two weeks after the tube's removal.

"Terri is peaceful, she's resting comfortably. She's dying, she's in her death process," Felos said.

SCHIAVO AS SYMBOL

Schiavo's fate became a rallying point for anti-abortion crusaders, right-to-life advocates and Christian conservatives who used their political clout after Bush's re-election in November to lobby the Republican-controlled US Congress.

US lawmakers rushed through a law over the weekend giving federal courts jurisdiction over a case long the domain of state courts. But the unusual congressional effort was rebuffed by federal courts from Florida to Atlanta to Washington and lawmakers drew criticism for meddling.

A number of polls this week found a majority of Americans believe Congress was wrong to intervene in the case and backed the courts' view that Schiavo should be allowed to die.

"I'm saddened by the decision of the court to reject Terri Schiavo's case for life despite a compelling case for reexamination of the medical evidence," US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said following the Supreme Court order.

"It is a sad day for her loving family and for their innocent and voiceless daughter."

Michael Schiavo has been consistently supported by state courts in his stance that his wife is in a persistent vegetative state and would not want to live in this condition. The parents maintain that Schiavo could improve with treatment and would not have wanted to die.

The Supreme Court twice last week refused to get involved in the Schiavo case.

COURT BATTLES

Florida Circuit Judge George Greer, the state judge who has handled the Schiavo case for years, dealt another blow to the parents hours after the Supreme Court decision when he rejected a request from the state's Department of Children and Families to take custody of Terri Schiavo.

The petition said the state was investigating allegations that Schiavo had been abused and offered testimony from a neurologist who questions whether Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state, as the courts have repeatedly ruled.

Felos sharply criticized Governor Jeb Bush's attempts to circumvent the court rulings.

"It saddens me greatly that we have to run to court to get court orders to protect Terri Schiavo from the abuse of the state of Florida," he said. "The conduct of the executive branch of the state of Florida has been reprehensible in this case."

Three dozen protesters held vigil outside the Pinellas Park, Florida, hospice where Schiavo is being cared for.

"It's throwing away a life, denying her the right every human being should have," said Stan Zgurzynski, Florida state deputy for Catholic group Knights of Columbus.

The fight over Schiavo was not quite over. Greer's ruling could be appealed. And Felos said the Schindlers' attorneys had filed a new petition with US District Judge James Whittemore, who this week rejected their request to have the feeding tube reinserted.

- REUTERS