Meg said:
Looks like the final chapter is here.
Court: Feeding Can End for Brain-Damaged Fla. Woman
CLEARWATER, Fla. (Reuters) - A Florida man can remove the feeding tube that has kept his brain-damaged wife alive since 1990, an appeals court ruled on Tuesday in what could be the final chapter in a bitterly fought right-to-die case.
Florida's 2nd District Court of Appeal dissolved a stay that had kept the feeding tube in place during a legal battle over the fate of Theresa "Terri" Schiavo, 41. Some doctors said she has been in a persistent vegetative state since suffering a heart attack that severely damaged her brain.
It's not over yet. There's a stay of the order until 5pm tomorrow. I will have to pull up the source, but it's not quite over
yet.
OKay...Here's the article to support what I said:
Updated: 02:43 PM EST
Florida's Schiavo Case Locked in Legal Stalemate
Judge Issues Emergency Stay After Another Expires
By VICKIE CHACHERE, AP
Reuters
Terri Schiavo is shown here with her mother, Mary Schindler, in a photograph taken late in 2001.
DUNEDIN, Fla. (Feb. 22) - The case of a severely brain-damaged woman remained locked in a legal stalemate Tuesday after an appeals court cleared the way for her husband to remove her feeding tube only to see a judge promptly block the removal for at least another day.
The 2nd District Court of Appeal offered no specific instructions in a one-page mandate issued in the case of Terri Schiavo, who was left brain damaged 15 years ago. That meant her husband, Michael Schiavo, could order his wife's tube be removed.
But Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer later issued an emergency stay blocking removal of the feeding tube until 5 p.m. EST Wednesday. Greer, who has been overseeing the long-standing dispute, scheduled a hearing on the case for earlier Wednesday.
It would likely take several days for Terri Schiavo to die if the tube is pulled.
In October 2003, she went without food or water for six days before Gov. Jeb Bush pushed through a new law letting him order the tube be reinserted. The Florida Supreme Court later struck down his action as unconstitutional.
The courts also sided with Michael Schiavo when he had the tube removed for two days in 2001.
Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer, who twice has granted Michael Schiavo permission to remove the feeding tube, was asked to issue an emergency stay that would keep Terri Schiavo alive while her parents seek to oust their son-in-law as her guardian. The parents are also seeking additional medical tests which might back their assertion that their daughter has some mental capabilities.
George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, did not have any immediate reaction.
Terri Schiavo suffered severe brain damage on Feb. 25, 1990, when a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder caused her heart to stop beating and cut off oxygen to her brain.
While she breathes on her own, she relies on the feeding tube to survive. Doctors have ruled she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope for recovery.
Still, her parents who visited her nearly every day report their daughter laughed, cried, smiled and responded to their voices. Video showing the dark-haired woman appearing to interact with her family has been televised nationally. But the court-appointed doctor has said the noises and facial expressions are reflexes.
Both sides accused each other of being motivated by greed over a $1 million medical malpractice award from doctors who failed to diagnose the chemical imbalance. The Schindlers argue Michael Schiavo should divorce their daughter.
02/22/05 13:57 EST