PINELLAS PARK, Florida - Terri Schiavo entered her second week without food and water Saturday as legal options dwindled for family members who have fought desperately to keep her alive.
A federal court late Friday rejected yet another appeal to resume feeding and hydrating the severely brain-damaged 41-year-old woman, prompting an outcry from her parents and fresh pleas for Florida Governor Jeb Bush to intervene.
"This is judicial homicide," Schiavo's father Bob Schindler said outside the Pinellas Park hospice where his daughter lay weakening and "down to her last hours," by his own account.
"What you're seeing is a textbook on judicial tyranny," Schindler said. "I think it's disgusting and revolting what they're doing to her."
Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed by court order on March 18 at the request of her husband Michael Schiavo, who says she did not want to be kept alive artificially and should be allowed to die with dignity. The two sides have fought over her fate for at least seven years.
Bob and Mary Schindler begged Florida Governor Jeb Bush to intervene, as he did when a similar stand-off unfolded in 2003.
"Governor Bush, you have the power to save my daughter, please, please do something," Mary Schindler said.
But Bush has said his powers are limited in the case which graduated to the federal court system for the first time this week after an unprecedented intervention by the US Congress and President George W. Bush last weekend.
Schiavo's parents have lost numerous court battles since then, and this time for the first time the three-judge panel of the US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously.
"The plaintiffs have been unable to come forward in their second amended complaint with any new claims palpably alleging the denial of a right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States," said Judge Charles Wilson, who had earlier sided with the Schiavos.
In another discouraging sign for the parents, the state judge who ordered the feeding tube removed eight days ago refused to disqualify himself in considering the latest motion brought by their attorney before the Pinellas County Circuit Court.
Judge George Greer said he would rule by noon Saturday (1700 GMT) on a motion in which the Schindlers say their daughter tried to articulate a desire to live.
According to court documents, Schiavo attempted to say 'I want to live' after an attorney prompted her to do so last Friday.
"In the presence of Suzanne Vitadamo (Schiavo's sister) and Suzanne's aunt, Mrs Schiavo attempted to verbalize that sentence. She managed to articulate the first two vowel sounds, first articulating 'AHHHHH' and then virtually screaming, 'WAAAAAAA.' She became very agitated but could not complete the vocalization attempted."
The injunction states the attempted vocalization "is significant with regard to the question of Mrs. Schiavo's end of life wishes."
Earlier Friday, Bob Schindler walked slowly out of the hospice after visiting his daughter and said she was "down to her last hours."
"Terri is weakening, she is down to her last hours," he said. "Something has to be done and has to be done quick."
The number of demonstrators outside the hospice was set to swell as Easter weekend got underway. Some of those present Friday seemed resigned to Schiavo's likely fate.
"I'm praying for her to rest in peace," said Raymond Simmons, a 35-year-old soldier from Tampa, Florida.
The 41-year-old woman's brain was heavily damaged following momentary heart failure in 1990, leaving her in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years, able to breathe on her own but reliant on an artificial feeding tube.
03/26/2005 07:01 GMT