Florida Agency Loses Schiavo Bid

A judge ruled Thursday that Florida’s social services agency cannot intervene to delay the removal of the feeding tube keeping brain-damaged Terri Schiavo alive.

The Department of Children & Families had asked for a 60-day delay in the removal of the tube, set for March 18. The agency said it wanted time to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect against the woman’s husband, Michael Schiavo.

But Circuit Judge George W. Greer said the allegations and many others had been investigated in the past and found to be groundless. He said the agency was trying to pull an end run around the court by getting involved at such a late stage.

The husband’s lawyer had criticized the last-minute attempt by the agency, saying it was engineered by Gov. Jeb Bush and other state officials supporting the woman’s parents, who are trying to keep her alive. The governor has said he will do anything within his power to save Terri Schiavo.

Some doctors say Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state, with no consciousness. She suffered brain damage in 1990 after her heart stopped because of a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder.

Michael Schiavo has gotten a court order to remove the feeding tube, contending that his wife told him she would not want to be kept alive artificially. But her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, dispute that and have fought their son-in-law in court for nearly seven years.

The Schindlers also dispute that their daughter is in a vegetative state, saying she laughs, cries, interacts with them and tries to speak when they visit at the hospice where she lives.

Tim Bottcher, spokesman for the Department of Children & Families, said the agency was weighing its legal options and declined to comment further.

Bush said he was disappointed by the ruling.

“I don’t know how DCF can’t be involved,” Bush said. “There’s a law that says if the hotline is called and there’s a warranted need for an investigation that there ought to be an investigation.”

The Schindlers’ lawyer, David Gibbs III, said the family was disappointed but was waiting to see how the agency would proceed. One option would be for the agency to take Terri Schiavo into protective custody to keep the feeding tube in place, Gibbs said.

The Schindlers have two issues pending in the state’s 2nd District Court of Appeal.