No New Trial in Right-to-Die Case
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TAMPA, Fla. — An appeals court denied a request Wednesday 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.
Attorney George Felos said once the court issued a formal decision in 15 days, Michael Schiavo might again be able to order the removal of the feeding tube that helped keep his 41-year-old wife alive.
Terri Schiavo collapsed from a chemical imbalance due to an eating disorder 14 years ago and left no written end-of-life directive.
Michael Schiavo’s former in-laws, Bob and Mary Schindler, argued for a new trial, saying that 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.
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