<font face='verdana' size='1' color =#CC0000><b> * NEW * </b></font>Judge says agency cannot intervene in case of brain-damaged woman

3/10/2005

TAMPA, Fla. A judge ruled today that Florida s social services agency cannot intervene to delay the removal of the feeding tube keeping brain-damaged Terri Schiavo alive.

The Department of Children & Families had asked for a 60-day delay in the removal of the feeding tube, now scheduled March 18.

The agency said it wanted time to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect by the woman s husband, Michael Schiavo.

But Circuit Judge George W. Greer ruled the agency s attempt to get involved at this late stage appears to be brought for the purpose of circumventing the court s final judgment ... in violation of the separation of powers doctrine.

Michael Schiavo s attorney had criticized the last-minute attempt by the agency to get involved, saying that it was engineered by Gov. Jeb Bush and others who support Terri Schiavo s parents in their bid to keep their daughter alive.

Terri Schiavo is in what some doctors say is a persistent vegetative state. She suffered brain damage after her heart stopped because of a chemical imbalance that was believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder.

Michael Schiavo has gotten a court order to remove the feeding tube, contending his wife told him she would not want to be kept alive artificially. Her parents dispute that.

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