As Terri Schiavo's health waned, a US federal judge refused today to order the reinsertion of her feeding tube, thwarting another legal move from the brain-damaged woman's parents in their battle against her husband to keep her alive.
The parents quickly appealed the ruling after US District Judge James Whittemore ruled for the second time against the parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who had asked him to grant their emergency request to resume nourishment while he considers a lawsuit they filed. Their next step was not immediately known.
Hours after the decision, the Schindlers appealed again to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appealsin Atlanta to review Whittemore's ruling. The Atlanta court refused before to overturn a previous Whittemore ruling.
Gov. Jeb Bush has ordered his legal team to scour state laws for a way to reconnect Schiavo's feeding tube. The process has been frustrating for the governor, who backs the Schindlers' cause.
While Terri Schiavo's parents suffered one legal defeat after another, including all the way up to the US Supreme Court, in their fight to have her feeding tube reinserted, Schiavo herself was said to be fading fast.
"Her face is beginning to sink in," said Suzanne Vitadamo, Schiavo's sister.
The parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who have battled Schiavo's husband Michael for seven years in a feud over whether she should be allowed to die, clung to the hope of winning one last court case before a federal judge in Tampa.