Grim Reaper Greer

Judge: Agency Cannot Delay Schiavo Case

Thursday, March 10, 2005

TAMPA, Fla. — A judge ruled Thursday that Florida's social services agency cannot intervene to delay the removal of the feeding tube keeping brain-damaged Terri Schiavo alive.

The Department of Children & Families had asked for a 60-day delay in the removal of the tube, now set for March 18. The agency said it wanted time to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect against the woman's husband, Michael Schiavo.

But Circuit Judge George W. Greer said those allegations and many others had been investigated in the past and found to be groundless. He said the agency was apparently trying to pull an end run around the court by getting involved at this late stage.

The decision was another setback for Gov. Jeb Bush's administration.

Terri Schiavo is in what some doctors say is a persistent vegetative state, with no consciousness. She suffered brain damage in 1990 after her heart stopped because of a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder.

Michael Schiavo has gotten a court order to remove the feeding tube, contending his wife told him she would not want to be kept alive artificially. But her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, dispute that, and have fought their son-in-law in court for nearly seven years over their daughter's fate.