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Terri's parents 'have no case'
23/03/2005 10:32 - (SA)
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| Mary Schindler, Terri Schiavo's mother, pauses as she pleads for Terri's life during a brief news conference. (Chris O'Meara, AP) |
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Atlanta - A United States federal appeals court refused early on Wednesday to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, denying an emergency request by the severely brain-damaged woman's parents to keep her alive.
In its 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said the woman's parents "failed to demonstrate a substantial case on the merits of any of their claims."
"There is no denying the absolute tragedy that has befallen Mrs Schiavo," the ruling read. "We all have our own family, our own loved ones, and our own children. However, we are called upon to make a collective, objective decision concerning a question of law."
Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, vowed another appeal on Wednesday.
Keep on fighting
"The Schindlers will be filing an appropriate appeal to save their daughter's life," said Rex Sparklin, an attorney with the law firm representing the parents.
The Schindlers said on Tuesday that their daughter was "fading quickly" and might die at any moment. The feeding tube was disconnected on Friday, and doctors have said that Terri Schiavo, 41, could survive one to two weeks without water and nutrients.
A man who answered Bob Schindler's cellular phone declined comment on Wednesday.
The Schindlers have been locked for years in a battle with Schiavo's husband 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.
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.
Wednesday morning's decision came less than 24 hours after US District Judge James Whittemore of Tampa, Florida, rejected the parents' request to have the tube reinserted, saying they had not established a "substantial likelihood of success" if a new trial were held on their claim that Terri's religious and due process rights have been violated.
Even before the parents' appeal was filed with the 11th Circuit, Michael Schiavo urged the court 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 his attorney, George Felos. He filed a response to the Schindlers' appeal and said he would go to the US Supreme Court if the tube were ordered reconnected.
President George W Bush's administration "would have preferred a different ruling" from Whittemore, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the president was visiting a senior centre. "We hope that they would be able to have relief through the appeals process."
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