Court upholds brain-damaged woman's case (Schiavo) [View All]

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BRAIN_DAMAGED_WOMAN?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- An appeals court Wednesday denied a request from the parents of a severely brain-damaged woman for a new trial in the long-running right-to-die case, according to the court clerk's office.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal issued the denial without a written opinion; the decision upheld a ruling by a lower court judge. Attorney George Felos said once the court issues a formal decision in 15 days, Michael Schiavo may again be able to order the removal of the feeding tube that helps keep his 41-year-old wife alive.

Michael Schiavo's former in-laws, Bob and Mary Schindler, argued for a new trial, saying if their daughter did not want to be kept alive artificially - as her husband contends - she would have changed her mind, given recent statements by Pope John Paul II. The pope has said a person in a persistent vegetative state has the right to nutrition and hydration and to withhold them would be a sin.

Meanwhile, other lawyers for the Schindlers filed a friend of the court brief Wednesday in support of Gov. Jeb Bush's request that the U.S. Supreme Court intervene in the case.