FL court allows husband to remove feeding tube from Terri Schiavo News
FL court allows husband to remove feeding tube from Terri Schiavo

[JURIST] The Second District Court of Appeals in Florida [official website] issued a one-page mandate on Tuesday allowing Michael Schiavo to remove the feeding tube which sustains his brain-damaged wife Terri Schiavo [JURIST Newsmaker archive]. Terri's parents were seeking an emergency stay to keep their daughter alive in the hopes of filing further legal challenges. The appeals court's mandate on Tuesday allowed Michael Schiavo to act under previous court rulings which provide for Terri's right to die. Florida courts have consistently ruled that Terri Schiavo had expressed wishes not to be kept alive artificially, although she left no written directive. The US Supreme Court rejected an appeal [JURIST report] in the case last month. The order comes almost 15 years after Terri Schiavo suffered a cardiac arrest that resulted in brain damage and left her in a vegetative state. Doctors have ruled there is no hope for recovery. NBC 6 News in Florida has a timeline of events in the case. AP has more.