The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday refused to overturn a judge’s order blocking the state from taking temporary custody of Terri Schiavo, another setback in her parents’ battle to keep their brain-damaged daughter alive.
Gov. Jeb Bush wants the state Department of Children & Families to take custody of Schiavo, presumably to reinsert her feeding tube, and to investigate allegations that she has been abused and prove that she’s not in a persistent vegetative state.
Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer earlier in the day denied Bush’s request and has blocked the state from taking emergency action to intervene in the case while it appeals his decision.
As of Thursday afternoon, Schiavo, 41, had been without food or water for six full days and was showing signs of dehydration – flaky skin, dry tongue and lips, sunken eyes, according to attorneys and friends of her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. Doctors have said she would probably die within a week or two of the tube being pulled.
Her parents have also been rebuffed by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Florida Senate.
