* New * Parents plead with federal appeals court to reconnect Terri Schiavo s feeding tube

3/22/2005

TAMPA, Fla. Warning that Terri Schiavo was fading quickly and might die at any moment, her parents begged a federal appeals court today 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.

The feeding tube was disconnected on Friday. Doctors have said Terri Schiavo could survive one to two weeks without water and nutrients.

The Schindlers have been locked for years in a battle with Schiavo s husband, Michael Schiavo, 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.

Even before the parents appeal was filed, Michael Schiavo 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. Felos also said he would go to the U.S. Supreme Court if the tube were ordered reconnected.

Louise Cleary, a spokeswoman at Woodside Hospice, said she could not discuss Terri Schiavo s condition for reasons of privacy.

Over the weekend, Republicans in Congress pushed through unprecedented emergency legislation aimed at prolonging Schiavo s life by allowing the case to be reviewed by federal courts.

However, early today, U.S. District Judge James Whittemore of Tampa rejected the parents emergency request under that legislation to have the tube reconnected, saying they had not established that they would probably prevail at a trial on their claim that Terri Schiavo s religious and due process rights have been violated.

Bobby Schindler, her brother, said his family was crushed.

To have to see my parents go through this is absolutely barbaric, he said on ABC s Good Morning America. I d love for these judges to sit in a room and see this happening as well.

By mid-afternoon, about 75 protesters gathered outside the hospice, virtually all them upset with Whittemore s decision. They carried signs and shouted through bullhorns. One woman was arrested for trespassing after trying to bring Schiavo a cup of water.

The Bush administration would have preferred a different ruling from the federal judge, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in Albuquerque, N.M., where the president was visiting a senior center. We hope that they would be able to have relief through the appeals process.

At the same time, Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, praised the ruling. What this judge did is protect the freedom of people to make their own end-of-life decisions without the intrusion of politicians, he said.

Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped briefly from a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder. Court-appointed doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.

Her parents argue that she could get better and that she would never have wanted to be cut off from food and water.

Read more in later editions of The Blade and toledoblade.com.