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Feeding Tube Removal Delayed
Terri Schiavo's parents say she needs a chance to learn how to eat.
By MITCH STACY
The Associated Press
CLEARWATER -- A judge Thursday postponed issuing an order removing a feeding tube keeping a brain-damaged woman alive after her parents argued that she first should be given the chance to learn to eat.
Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George W. Greer now says he will rule sometime next week on claims by Terri Schiavo's parents that she has a legal right to therapy that could help her take food by mouth after the feeding tube is withdrawn.
"We dodged the bullet again -for another week," said her father, Bob Schindler.
Schindler and his wife, Mary, have been battling their daughter's husband, Michael Schiavo, in court for years as he has sought permission to remove the feeding tube so she can die. Terri Schiavo has been in what doctors call a "persistent vegetative state" since a 1990 heart attack.
Doctors have said she would live 10 to 14 days after the feeding tube is removed.
Greer and Florida's appellate courts have consistently sided with Michael Schiavo, who contends his wife had said she would not want to be kept alive artificially.
The Schindlers, however, think their daughter tries to communicate with them and could recover with therapy, despite court-appointed doctors saying her condition is irreversible.
During the Thursday hearing, the Schindlers' lawyer, Pat Anderson, introduced affidavits from two speech pathologists who said they think that with therapy Terri Schiavo might be taught to swallow and communicate. They came to those conclusions after reviewing video and audio tapes of Terri Schiavo made last year.
Anderson also questioned whether Terri Schiavo would have chosen to not receive therapy that could improve her condition or help her eat.
"It has been scandalous what has happened in this guardianship," Anderson told Greer. "She has been treated as if she's already dead and never had the chance to get better."
But Michael Schiavo's lawyer, George Felos, noted that courtappointed doctors previously determined the woman has no cognitive function, so she can't communicate. And, he said, part of any food and water taken by mouth would go into her lungs, causing pneumonia and other problems.
Felos accused Anderson of rehashing matters that have already been litigated to force delays in the case.
Terri Schiavo was 26 in 1990 when she suddenly collapsed in her home after her heart stopped from what doctors believe was a potassium imbalance. She now lives in a Pinellas County hospice and has been in poor health lately.
Michael Schiavo first filed a petition to have the feeding tube removed in 1998, and the Schindlers have been battling him in court ever since.
In recent days, lawyers for the Schindlers have unsuccessfully tried to get Greer kicked off the case and have asked Pinellas State Attorney Bernie McCabe to investigate claims that Michael Schiavo had mistreated his wife since she has lived in a nursing home and hospice.
Michael Schiavo did not attend the hearing.
The Schindlers have claimed that Michael Schiavo stands to benefit financially if his wife dies. In 1992 he won a malpractice award of more than $1 million against doctors who misdiagnosed Terri Schiavo, more than $700,000 of which was set aside for her care.
But Felos said Michael Schiavo, who has fathered a child with a woman to whom he is engaged, just wants to see his wife's wishes carried out.