US: The drama over whether Terri Schiavo should live or die played itself out on several fronts yesterday - in a federal appeals court in Atlanta, in the Florida state legislature in Tallahassee, and at the hospice where the brain-damaged woman lay for a fifth day without food or water.
An appeal by Ms Schiavo's parents to all 12 judges of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to have their daughter's feeding tube restored was turned down yesterday afternoon. This followed a rejection of their case by a three-judge panel in the early hours and left the parents with only one last chance - intervention by the US Supreme Court.
In Tallahassee, the Florida Senate voted 21-18 against a bill to intervene in the case, despite governor Jeb Bush's pleas to step in and "spare Terri's life", saying that it was possible Ms Schiavo had been misdiagnosed. Governor Bush cited neurologist Dr William Cheshire, of the Mayo Clinic, who he said had determined by studying tapes and standing by her bedside that, rather than being in a "persistent vegetative state", Ms Schiavo may be "profoundly disabled" but minimally conscious.
The Florida state legislature intervened previously - in 2003 - and Ms Schiavo's feeding tube was reinserted after six days. However, "Terri's Law" was later struck down as unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court.
Ms Schiavo's feeding tube was disconnected last Friday, but early on Monday morning emergency legislation was passed by the US Congress and signed by President George Bush, enabling the parents to appeal to the federal court system.
Florida state courts have consistently sided with the husband, Michael Schiavo, who insists that his wife told him she would never want to be kept alive artificially.
In their appeal, the parents, Bill and Mary Schindler, said that their daughter's medical condition was "deteriorating rapidly", but the three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit, after deliberating into the early hours of the morning, concluded that the mother and father had failed to demonstrate a "substantial case" that the feeding tube should be reinserted immediately.
"There is no denying the absolute tragedy that has befallen Mrs Schiavo," the ruling stated. "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."
One judge, Charles Wilson, dissented, saying that Ms Schiavo's "imminent" death would end the case before it could be fully considered and that he failed to see any harm in reinserting the feeding tube.
The parents' appeal to the full 11th Circuit Court panel of 12 judges asked them to order the hospice to transport their daughter to a hospital "to re-establish her nutrition and hydration", but this too was refused.
In an emotional plea in front of television cameras yesterday at the hospice in Pinellas Park, Mary Schlinder said: "When I close my eyes at night, all I can see is Terri's face in front of me, dying, starving to death. Please, someone out there, stop this cruelty. Stop the insanity. Please let my daughter live . . ."
Doctors have said that Terri Schiavo, who is 41, could survive for between one and two weeks without water and nutrients.
Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, said he was "very pleased" with the appeals court ruling. He has warned that any new attempt to reconnect Terri Schiavo's tube would be a violation of her rights and possibly a criminal assault.
The Schindlers' lawyer, Rex Sparklin, said that the couple would appeal to the US Supreme Court, where the decision on whether to accept the case rests with Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is responsible for cases emanating from Florida.
In 1990, the US Supreme Court ruled that a terminally-ill person has a right to refuse life-sustaining treatment. In its next term it plans to consider whether the federal government can prosecute doctors who help ill patients to die.
Protesters gathered outside the hospice yesterday and a dozen people were arrested when they tried to cross police lines to bring water to Ms Schiavo.
President Bush said yesterday that all executive options had been exhausted in this "extraordinary and sad case".
The US Justice Department has filed a brief with the appeals courts and the Supreme Court expressing a wish that they hear the Schiavo case.
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 have concluded that she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.
The Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano yesterday called the US courts "executioners" for not allowing Ms Schiavo's feeding tube to be restored.
"So far, along her painful path, Terri seems to have met with a series of executioners - from those who first decided to make her die to the judges who have now signed her death sentence," the paper said.