Tampabay: Judge sets Schiavo deadline

CLEARWATER -- A Pinellas judge has ordered the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube on Aug. 28, more than a decade after the St. Petersburg woman's severe brain injury provoked an intense family feud.

But once again, Mrs. Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, plan to appeal the decision.

Their options are more limited than when they first opposed their son-in-law, Michael Schiavo, in a case that has gone all the way to U.S. Supreme Court, only to be sent back down to a local judge.

"This is just another step in the battle," said attorney Larry Crow, who represents the Schindlers and also serves as a state representative from Palm Harbor. "This is not the end. We are not giving up."

Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer ruled that Mrs. Schiavo's life support should be discontinued at 3 p.m. Aug. 28. He declined to hold further hearings or allow additional doctors to evaluate Mrs. Schiavo, as her parents requested.

"Aren't you troubled how a judge can ignore overwhelming medical evidence that Terri can recover?" Bob Schindler said after hearing about the order.

In a 10-page order faxed to attorneys late Tuesday afternoon, Greer said the Schindlers failed to provide any new extraordinary evidence that would cause him to change his ruling of last year -- that Mrs. Schiavo would want to die.

"The issue continues to be, however, what Terri Schiavo would want and not what others would like to see occur, including this court," the judge wrote.

George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, said he was gratified by Greer's decision and that his client "is one step closer to carrying out his wife's wishes."

"These issues have been litigated and relitigated," Felos said. "They are just rehashing existing evidence."

Greer said he could have reconsidered if the Schindlers had shown that their daughter's condition improved dramatically, that a cure for her was discovered, or that her family found a living will indicating her end-of-life wishes. But, he said, none of those happened.

"Many of the allegations raised by Mr. and Mrs. Schindler . . . were thoroughly litigated at trial," Greer said. "The others generally deal with the facts which predate the trial and were available."

Mrs. Schiavo's doctors say that she is in a persistent vegetative state and will not improve. They say she is unaware of what is happening around her and that her motions and sounds are based on reflex only.

But her parents dispute that, saying other doctors and witnesses say she turns her head toward her mother, laughs at jokes and can swallow ice water. They claim new medical treatments are available to possibly help Mrs. Schiavo, such as putting her into an oxygen chamber.

In his order, Greer wrote that Mrs. Schiavo suffers from "severe structural brain damage and to a large extent her brain has been replaced by spinal fluid," perhaps as much as 90 percent.

"Medicine is not a precise science and doctors will therefore not always agree," the judge said.

Greer's ruling was a huge blow to the parents' case, but their attorneys plan to ask him again to reconsider and allow them time after Aug. 28 to appeal to a higher court if necessary. If the judge denies either request, they can appeal to the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland.

Tuesday, before Greer's order was issued, the Schindlers' attorneys asked the judge to remove Michael Schiavo as his wife's guardian, ending his control of her medical treatment and money.

Crow has accused Michael Schiavo of withholding medical information from the parents, moving her without court permission, barring her brother and sister from visiting and neglecting her medical care.

Crow said he requested the hearing on removing Schiavo as guardian as a way to try to get Greer to hold a hearing on other issues in the case.

Felos said the request was a "frivolous attempt" to postpone Mrs. Schiavo's death.

"It makes sense if someone is trying to delay or impede the resolution of this case," he said.

Mrs. Schiavo collapsed at her St. Petersburg home on Feb. 25, 1990. Her heart stopped, and she was deprived of oxygen for five minutes.

The Schindlers and Schiavo have accused each other of trying to control Mrs. Schiavo's fate to get $700,000 she received from a 1992 malpractice suit.

Only half of that remains; much of it has been used to pay for Schiavo's legal expenses and Mrs. Schiavo's medical care.

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