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'There's no happy ending'
22/03/2005 11:02 - (SA)
Tampa - Armed with a new law rushed through Congress, the attorney for Terri Schiavo's parents pleaded with a federal judge to order the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube re-inserted. But the judge appeared cool to the argument.
United States District Judge James Whittemore did not immediately make a ruling after the two-hour hearing, and he gave no indication on when he might act on the request.
The hearing came three days after the feeding tube was removed. Doctors have said Schiavo, 41, could survive one to two weeks without the tube.
The courtroom showdown, the latest in what has become a legal cliffhanger captivating the nation, followed an extraordinary political fight over the weekend that consumed both chambers of Congress and prompted the president to rush back to the White House from his Texas ranch.
Congress passed a law that allowed Schiavo's parents to argue their case before a federal court, bringing the intense legal battle to Whittemore's Tampa courtroom.
'Desperate'
"We are rushed and we are somewhat desperate," the parents' attorney, David Gibbs III, told the judge. "Terri may die as I speak." The attorney said that forcing Schiavo to die by starvation and dehydration would be "a mortal sin" under her Roman Catholic beliefs. But the judge told Gibbs that he was not completely sold on the argument. "I think you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that you have a substantial likelihood" of the parents' lawsuit succeeding, said Whittemore, nominated by former President Bill Clinton in 1999.
George Felos, representing husband Michael Schiavo, told Whittemore that the case has been aired thoroughly in state courts and that forcing the 41-year-old severely brain damaged woman to endure another reinsertion of the tube would violate her civil rights. "Yes, life is sacred," Felos said as he argued that restarting artificial feedings would be a violation of Schiavo's rights. "So is liberty, particularly in this country." Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed at 13:45 on Friday, the third such time it has been disconnected. On both previous occasions the tube was re-inserted, once on order of a judge, once on order of the governor.
Michael Schiavo contends he is carrying out his wife's wishes not to be kept alive artificially. He has fought for years with his wife's parents over whether she should be permitted to die or kept alive through the feeding tube.
"There is no happy ending," Michael Schiavo said on CNN's Larry King Live late on Monday. "When Terri's wishes are carried out, it will be her wish. She will be at peace. She will be with the Lord." Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped briefly because of a possible potassium imbalance brought on by an eating disorder. She can breathe on her own, but has relied on the feeding tube to keep her alive.
Court-appointed doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.
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