TERRI SCHIAVO Parents near end of legal options

Bob and Mary Schindler made another plea to a U.S. District Judge on Thursday night.
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (AP) -- With Terri Schiavo visibly drawing closer to death Thursday, her parents refused to give up their fight to reinsert the brain-damaged daughter's feeding tube, despite being rebuffed by both the nation's highest court in the land and a Florida judge.
Bob and Mary Schindler held onto the slim hope that Gov. Jeb Bush would somehow find a way to intervene or a federal judge who had turned them down before would see things their way.
As of Thursday afternoon, Schiavo, 41, had been without food or water for six full days and was showing signs of dehydration -- flaky skin, dry tongue and lips, sunken eyes -- according to attorneys and friends of the Schindlers. Doctors have said she would probably die within a week or two of the tube being pulled.
"It's very frustrating," said her brother, Bobby Schindler. "Every minute that goes by is a minute that Terri is being starved and dehydrated to death."
A lawyer for Schiavo's husband, Michael Schiavo, said he hoped the woman's parents and the governor would finally give up their fight.
"We believe it's time for that to stop as we approach this Easter weekend and that Mrs. Schiavo be able to die in peace," attorney George Felos said.
Emergency request
The Schindlers appeared before a federal judge in Tampa later Thursday to make another emergency request that the feeding tube be reattached while they pursue claims that Schiavo's religious and due-process rights were violated.
U.S. District Judge James Whittemore previously rejected a similar request and said Thursday he would work overnight to issue a new ruling.
The Schindlers and their lawyers, as well as Felos, arrived at a Tampa courthouse for the hearing that started around 6:30 p.m. Before entering, Schindler lawyer David Gibbs III said: "We're just trying to save Terri's life."
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. She left no living will, but her husband argued that she told him she would not want to be kept alive artificially. Her parents dispute that and contend she could get better.
The dispute has led to what may be the longest, most heavily litigated right-to-die case in U.S. history.
U.S. Supreme Court
Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court, without explanation, refused to order the feeding tube reinserted. The case worked its way through the federal courts and reached the Supreme Court after Congress passed an extraordinary law over the weekend to let the Schindlers take their case to federal court.
Later in the day Thursday, Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Greer denied Bush's request to let the state take Schiavo into protective custody and, presumably, restore her feeding tube. Bush cited new allegations that Schiavo was neglected and abused, and challenged her diagnosis as being in a persistent vegetative state.
The state immediately appealed to the Florida Supreme Court. State law allows Florida's social services agency to act in emergency situations of adult abuse.
"For this lockdown to occur without having the ability to have an open mind, and say, 'Well, maybe there are new facts on the table, maybe there are new technologies, maybe, just maybe, we should be cautious about this' ... is very troubling," Bush said.
In his ruling, Greer said an affidavit from a neurologist who believes that Schiavo is "minimally conscious" was not enough to set aside his decision to allow the withdrawal of food and water.
"By clear and convincing evidence, it was determined she did not want to live under such burdensome conditions and that she would refuse such medical treatment-assistance," Greer wrote.
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