Dismissal of Parents’ Claim May Mark End of Legal Battle

Terri Schiavo’s parents failed Saturday in what could mark the end of their exhaustive legal struggle to keep their daughter alive: A state judge and the Florida Supreme Court dismissed their claim that she uttered the sounds “ahhhh” and “waaaa” in an attempt to shout “I want to live.”

The feeding tube that has sustained the severely brain-damaged woman for 15 years was removed nine days ago.

“I would hope that the parents’ side realizes that any further legal action is going to be futile,” said George J. Felos, the lawyer for Terri Schiavo’s husband, Michael. “We can understand their desperate efforts in this case. But I would hope that at some point, they would leave that behind and try to cope with this on a more personal level.”

For seven years, the family has argued the case in state and federal courts, including appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.

David C. Gibbs III, lawyer for Bob and Mary Schindler, Schiavo’s parents, could not be reached Saturday evening to comment on what options he had after the ruling by the Florida Supreme Court. When asked if the Schindlers’ lengthy legal battle to keep their daughter alive might be at an end, an employee at his law firm in Seminole, Fla., who declined to give his name, would not comment.

Earlier in the day, Gibbs said the federal appeals made possible by the legislation passed by Congress a week ago had been exhausted. “There is nothing that can be brought back to the court federally that will in any way help Terri,” Gibbs said.

On Saturday evening, a spokesman for the Schindlers made an emotional public appeal to Gov. Jeb Bush to prevent Schiavo’s death.

“Gov. Bush, you do have the authority to stop the killing of Terri Schiavo within your executive office,” Brother Paul O’Donnell, a Franciscan friar, said in a televised statement. O’Donnell also alluded to Schiavo’s purported attempt to oppose her death, which her sister and a lawyer said they witnessed.

“Terri’s declaration last week when she tried with all her might to say ‘I want to live’ trumps everything that has preceded in court,” the friar said.

“That declaration calls for you to take her into protective custody and save Terri,” O’Donnell said, addressing Gov. Bush.

Bush, the president’s brother, has said he has done everything within his powers as governor to keep Terri Schiavo alive.

In refusing the Schindlers’ latest petition to have their daughter’s feeding tube reconnected, state Circuit Judge George W. Greer said Saturday that evidence at a previous trial had shown that Schiavo sometimes responded to stimuli with “limited vocalization.” “Credible medical evidence,” Greer said, held that such sounds were no more voluntary than the action of a “person jerking his/her hand off a hot stove long before he/she has thought about it.”

Gibbs immediately appealed Greer’s ruling to the Florida Supreme Court. But the judges in Tallahassee, who two days before had dismissed another petition from the Schindlers, refused to take the new case Saturday evening, saying they did not have jurisdiction.

It was the latest in more than a score of reversals in state and federal court for the Schindlers, who maintain that their daughter wants to live and could be helped by therapy. On March 18, under a court order from Greer, Schiavo’s feeding tube was disconnected. Though she left no written living will, the judge sided with Michael Schiavo, who says she would not have wished to be kept alive by artificial means.

Central to the Schindlers’ latest petition was an affidavit sworn by Barbara Weller, a lawyer in Gibbs’ firm, that on the day Schiavo’s feeding tube was to be taken out, she had tried to speak.

Weller, who was in Schiavo’s hospice room, said in an interview that she had begged Schiavo: “Terri, Terri, can you please, please say, ‘I want to live’?

“She said, ‘Ahhhh,’ ” the attorney said. “Then, and she stopped for a moment to gather her strength, she screamed ‘Waaaa.’ She couldn’t say anything more after that.”

Suzanne Vitadamo, Schiavo’s younger sister, said in another affidavit: “Terri had a look of anguish on her face, and she seemed to be struggling hard, but she could not complete the sentence.”

The parents’ petition also included the written opinion of a Florida neurologist, Dr. William Polk Cheshire, that Schiavo had been wrongly diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state.

Schiavo, a former insurance clerk, suffered massive brain damage 15 years ago, when a chemical imbalance brought on by an eating disorder caused a heart attack and halted her breathing for about five minutes. She can breathe on her own but cannot eat or drink. According to testimony from neurologists, her cerebral cortex, the center of the human brain that determines knowledge and sensation, has been severely damaged.

Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo, visited her at the hospice Saturday afternoon for 20 minutes and disputed reports from the parents that she was suffering and near death. She was comfortable, resting and breathing normally, he said.

“Frankly, when I saw her -- and it’s the first time I’ve seen her since her artificial life support was removed eight days ago -- she looked beautiful,” Felos said. “In all the years I’ve seen Mrs. Schiavo, I’ve never seen such a look of peace and beauty upon her.

“At least at this point, it does not appear that her death is imminent,” Felos said. “I’d like to remind people that the medical evidence indicates that death in this manner takes anywhere from 10 to 14 days ... so it could be another five, six days or two to three days.”

Bobby Schindler, Terri’s brother, reacted angrily to the lawyer’s contention that his sister was not in pain from being deprived of food and water. “That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard,” Schindler said. “If that was true, I’d ask Mr. Felos to allow video in her room so people could see.”

He said he was going to suggest to his parents that they end their visits to his sister’s hospice room to spare themselves the sight.

As Easter Sunday approached, the spokesman for the Schindlers said Schiavo was being denied Holy Communion, which he said was a violation of her religious rights and sufficient grounds for Gov. Bush to intervene.

“Terri Schiavo, on the vigil of the Resurrection, being a practicing Roman Catholic all her life, has been denied the precious body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ,” O’Donnell said.

Earlier, Felos said his client was bound by a previous court order from Greer that determined when and by whom the sacrament could be given. The judge approved last rites and the administration of communion the day the feeding tube was disconnected, and communion for one other occasion before her death, Felos said.

“And when that occurs, the sacrament would be administered by the hospice priest and the parents’ spiritual advisor may be present, should he choose, at that time,” Felos said. He said his client would “scrupulously follow the court order.”

The lawyer also said that according to an order from Greer, upon Schiavo’s death, her remains would be given to her husband for cremation and interment at the Schiavo family plot in Pennsylvania.