Schiavo fading as legal fight nears end

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — After another round of losses in the courts, Terri Schiavo's parents kept watch over their dying daughter Saturday, trying in vain to give her Easter communion as their attorneys acknowledged the fight to reconnect the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube was nearing an end.

Attorneys for Bob and Mary Schindler decided not to file another motion with a federal appeals court, essentially ending their effort to persuade federal judges to intervene — something allowed by an extraordinary law passed by Congress.

Late Saturday, the Florida Supreme Court dismissed a request from the parents' attorney to have their daughter's feeding tube reinserted, turning aside an emergency petition arguing that a Pinellas County judge ignored new evidence of Schiavo's wishes and her medical condition.

At least two more appeals loomed from the state and Gov. Jeb Bush, but those challenges were before the state 2nd District Court of Appeal, which has rebuffed the governor's previous efforts in the case.

Family supporters said Schiavo's breathing became increasingly labored during the day. An attorney for the Schindlers, Barbara Weller, said hospice workers began giving morphine to Schiavo to ease pain brought on by her body's failure.

Schiavo's husband, Michael, has said she would not want to be kept alive artificially. The Schindlers believe their daughter could improve and say she laughs, cries, responds to them and tries to talk.

Weller said Terri cried when her mother hugged her Saturday night. "She knows what's going on. She was trying to vocalize something with Mary."

"The governor should know that Terri still knows who her mother is, and she's extremely distressed," Weller said. "She's not a vegetable who doesn't know what is happening."

Paul O'Donnell, a Roman Catholic Franciscan monk, said the family unsuccessfully urged Michael Schiavo to allow his wife the sacrament of communion during the holiest feast of the Catholic year. She received last rites the day the feeding tube was pulled.

"This is in violation of her religious rights and freedoms and allows the governor to . . . intervene," O'Donnell said, repeating the family's request that the governor take Schiavo into protective custody. "We beg you to have courage and take action."

The family had asked for Schiavo, who cannot swallow, to have a minuscule piece of bread and a drop of wine placed in her mouth.