http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/02 ... hiavo.html
Appeals court ruling favors Terri Schiavo's parents
The Associated Press
Published on: 02/13/04
TAMPA, Fla. -- Gov. Jeb Bush and the parents of a severely brain-damaged woman won two appellate court victories Friday in their quest to keep her alive against her husband's wishes.
The 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that Bush's attorneys will be allowed to question witnesses in the court battle over a law that gave the governor authority to reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube after her husband had it removed in October.
The appeals court also ruled that Pinellas Circuit Court Judge W. Douglas Baird did not follow judicial rules when he denied her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, the ability to intervene in the constitutional challenge to the law.
The appeals court ordered Baird to hold further proceedings on the issue.
Schiavo's husband, Michael, has been battling the Schindlers in court for years to remove Terri's feeding tube so she can die. He says she would not have wanted to be kept alive artificially.
The Schindlers doubt their 40-year-old daughter, who lives in a Clearwater nursing home, had any such end-of-life wishes and believe her condition could improve with therapy. Their daughter has been in a persistent vegetative state for more than 13 years after collapsing from a chemical imbalance.