Dear List(s),

The final story below...

Karen G.

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050316235609990012
Terri Schiavo's Parents Run Out of Legal Options
Tell Supporters to Return Home to Spend Easter Sunday With Their Families
By FRED GOODALL, AP


AP

Terri Schiavo's mother, right, and her husband are on opposite sides of the
battle over her life.








Jump Below:
· Photos: An Emotional Saga

Watch Broadband Video:
Schiavo Legal Fight Near End
Family Thanks Supporters
Brother Disputes Lawyer
Kids Arrested at Protest
A Doctor's Hardest Job

More on This Story:
· The Schiavo-Schindler Rift

Talk About It: Post | Chat



PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (March 27) - Under increased security and fading hopes,
Terri Schiavo's parents asked supporters to return home to spend Easter Sunday
with their families as the couple's brain-damaged daughter went a ninth day
without food or water.
Paul O'Donnell, a Roman Catholic Franciscan monk, said the family
unsuccessfully urged Michael Schiavo to allow his wife the sacrament of
communion during
the holiest day of the Catholic year. She received last rites the day the
feeding tube was pulled.
''This is in violation of her religious rights and freedoms and allows the g
overnor to ... intervene,'' O'Donnell said Saturday, repeating the family's
request that the governor take Schiavo into protective custody. ''We beg you to
have courage and take action.''
Police brought in extra officers to block the road in front of Schiavo's
hospice, citing the increased hostility and intensity of protesters.
Attorneys for Bob and Mary Schindler decided not to file another motion with
a federal appeals court, essentially ending their effort to persuade federal
judges to intervene - something allowed by an extraordinary law passed by
Congress.
Schiavo's parents have disputed that their daughter is in a persistent
vegetative state as court-ordered doctors have determined.
Late Saturday, the Florida Supreme Court dismissed a request from the
parents' attorney to have their daughter's feeding tube reinserted, turning
aside an
emergency petition arguing that a Pinellas County judge ignored new evidence
about Schiavo's wishes and her medical condition.
At least two more appeals loomed by the state and Gov. Jeb Bush, but those
challenges were before the state 2nd District Court of Appeal, which has
rebuffed the governor's previous efforts in the case.
About 25 protesters held a nondenominational Easter sunrise service outside
the hospice, despite the Schindlers urging them to celebrate the holiday with
their families.
''Be with your children,'' O'Donnell told supporters Saturday evening. ''Hold
them close and cherish every moment you have with them.''
Terri Schiavo was raised Roman Catholic, and her parents have made heavy use
of her faith as the basis for the numerous appeals to reinsert the feeding
tube.

A Look at Schiavo's Case


Sources: AP, cnn.com Timeline


1990: Oxygen fails to reach Schiavo's brain, causing permanent damage.
Husband Michael is named legal guardian.

1998: Husband petitions for the removal of wife's feeding tube.

Her Story: See Schiavo Timeline



What You've Said



Meanwhile, police monitored the scene from the hospice roof, patrol cars
blocked each entrance and uniformed officers patrolled the grounds.
Schiavo's condition has deteriorated since her feeding tube was removed, but
attorneys for each side offered distinctly different assessments.
David Gibbs III, who represents the Schindlers, said ''Terri Schiavo will
pass the point that she will be able to recover over this Easter weekend.''
Family supporters also said Terri's breathing has become increasingly labored.
Another family attorney said hospice workers began giving her morphine.
But Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, denied reports by the parents'
attorneys that her tongue and eyes were bleeding, wracked by dehydration.
''She is resting comfortably,'' Felos said Saturday. ''Her breathing does not
appear to be shallow.''
Doctors have said she would probably die within a week or two of her feeding
tube being pulled, which was done after a judge sided with her husband's
argument that she would not want to be kept alive artificially.
Meanwhile, another attorney for the Schindlers, Barbara Weller, said Terri
cried when her mother hugged her Saturday night. ''She knows what's going on.
She was trying to vocalize something with Mary.''
In a last-ditch plea, Gibbs argued to the state's high court that Schiavo was
treated unfairly because she is disabled.
''In the best way she is able, Terri has communicated her wish to live,'' the
petition argued.
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. She left no living will.
''This is so sad and so disappointing,'' said Alia Faraj, a Bush spokeswoman.
''This is a very difficult day for Mr. and Mrs. Schindler and most especially
for Terri.''
Outside the hospice early Sunday, protesters maintained a vigil. Some
believed it wasn't a coincidence that the brain-damaged woman would lay dying
during
Easter weekend.
''Things are all done in God's timing,'' said David Vogel, who was arrested
for trespassing last week when he tried to take water to her.
Schiavo has been without food and water longer than she was in 2003, when the
tube was removed for six days before Gov. Bush pushed through a law to have
it reinserted. The law was later thrown out by the state Supreme Court.
The feeding tube was first removed in April 2001.
(Associated Press writers Mark Long, Mike Schneider, Allen Breed and Jackie
Hallifax contributed to this report.)
AP-NY-03-27-05 0731EST
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news
report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed
without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active
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Karen Hallenbeck~Sikorsky~George BS,RN,UM,QC
http://hometown.aol.com/anewplanforyou
http://hometown.aol.com/anewplanforyou/sb.html



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