Next month, a date may be set to remove brain-damaged Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, allowing her to die.
By Associated Press
Published August 23, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Supreme Court on Friday declined to get involved in the legal fight over a brain-damaged woman, clearing the way for her husband to have her feeding tube removed so she can die.
Terri Schiavo, 39, has been at the center of a long battle between her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and her husband, Michael Schiavo.
Michael Schiavo says his wife would not want to be kept alive in what doctors call a persistent vegetative state. The Schindlers say she can be rehabilitated and have fought her husband's efforts in the Florida courts.
"The Florida Supreme Court has, in essence, said "We will not intervene,"' said George Felos, a Dunedin attorney representing Michael Schiavo.
The brief order said "no basis for jurisdiction exists" and that no motion for reconsideration would be allowed. All seven justices signed the order.
Felos said the order will be formally transmitted to Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer at 3 p.m. Monday.
Greer said he likely will set a hearing about the first week in September to set a date to have the feeding tube removed. He said he didn't know how soon after the hearing that could happen.
"I won't have any idea (about the date) until the hearing is concluded," Greer said Friday. "I need to hear from both the lawyers."
The attorney for the Schindlers, Pat Anderson, said she was consulting with other lawyers to plan her next move.
"Obviously, the family is devastated," Anderson said. "We're just evaluating our options, and no decisions have been made yet."
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.
Doctors said the loss of oxygen to her brain left her in a state where she can breathe on her own but is reliant on a liquid nutritional supplement and water delivered through a tube.
