Delays In Fla. Feeding Tube Case

A feeding tube for a severely brain-damaged woman can't be removed until appeals are exhausted in her parents' fight to have a new trial in the long-running right-to-die case, a judge ruled Friday.

An attorney for Schiavo's husband, Michael, said the order could mean months and possibly years of delay and he would seek to have it overturned.

"What everyone with any common sense should realize is this case has been mulled over time and time again," attorney George Felos said. "To permit endless stays for endless appeals is simply a miscarriage of justice."

At issue is a request for a new trial by Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who say if their daughter indeed did not want to be kept alive artificially, as her husband says, she no longer would have that wish given recent statements from the pope.

Terri Schiavo was raised Catholic and would, if she could, accept recent comments from Pope John Paul II that a person in a persistent vegetative state still has the right to nutrition and hydration and to withhold it would be a sin, her parents contend.

Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer earlier ruled that was not a sufficient basis for a trial, but the Schindlers are appealing. A previous stay by Greer was to expire Dec. 6.

Terri Schiavo collapsed from a chemical imbalance due to an eating disorder 14 years ago and left no written directive.

A second court stay is in effect until Nov. 29, while Gov. Jeb Bush appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court over whether he overstepped his authority in pushing through a state law that reconnected Terri Schiavo's feeding tube last year.

By Vickie Chachere