Parents Fight for Daughter Brain-Damaged Woman Faces Threat of Court-Ordered Starvation.(Brief Article)

In a dramatic turn of events, after enduring 60 hours of court-ordered starvation and dehydration, a Florida woman with severe brain damage received food and fluids when new evidence emerged contradicting her husband's claims that she would have wanted to die, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

Michael Schiavo's attempts to remove his wife's feeding tube are strongly opposed by Terri's parents, who are now "financially strapped" after years spent fighting court battles to keep their daughter alive, the St. Petersburg Times reported. But Terri Schindler-Schiavo's feedings may again be discontinued if her husband's petition to a court of appeals is successful.

Terri Schindler-Schiavo, now 37, has been in a condition of diminished consciousness after a heart attack 11 years ago. She collapsed at her home on February 25, 1990, and her brain was deprived of oxygen for five minutes, according to the Times.

Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, insist that their daughter, now living at Hospice House Woodside in Pinellas Park, "reacts to them with smiles, laughter, and moans during visits," according to the Tampa Tribune. However, doctors say she is in a "vegetative state" and that any movements she makes are merely "reflex."

The Schindlers refuse to give up on their hopes that Terri's condition will one day improve. "It's my daughter's life," Bob Schindler told the Times. "I will fight for her until I die. Any parent would."

The court battles began in May 1998 when Terri Schindler-Schiavo's husband Michael requested that her feeding tube be removed, the Times reported. On February 11, 2000, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer granted Schiavo's request, ruling that the tube would be removed 30 days after the Schindlers had exhausted all appeals.

Judge Greer's decision was based largely on Michael Schiavo's assertion that, before her heart attack, Terri told him she would not want to live on artificial life support, the Miami Herald reported. "She said, `No tubes for me,' that kind of thing," Mr. Schiavo's attorney George Felos told the Miami Herald.