Schiavo's parents file appeal

TAMPA, Fla. -- Warning that Terri Schiavo was "fading quickly" and might die at any moment, her parents begged a federal appeals court Tuesday to order the severely brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reinserted.\nDavid Gibbs III, attorney for parents Bob and Mary Schindler, told the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta that the 41-year-old woman might die before they could fully argue their case that her rights are being violated. The appeal came after a federal judge in Tampa rejected the parents' emergency request.\n"Where, as here, death is imminent, it is hard to imagine more critical and exigent circumstances," Gibbs said in the appeal filed electronically with the court. "Terri is fading quickly, and her parents reasonably fear that her death is imminent."\nThere was no immediate indication of when the appeals court might rule.\nThe feeding tube was disconnected Friday. Doctors have said Terri Schiavo could survive one to two weeks without water and nutrients.\nThe Schindlers have been locked for years in a battle with Schiavo's husband, Michael Schiavo, over whether her feeding tube should be disconnected. State courts have sided with Michael Schiavo, who insists his wife told him she would never want to be kept alive artificially.\nEven before the parents' appeal was filed, Michael Schiavo urged the 11th Circuit not to grant an emergency request to restore nutrition.\n"That would be a horrific intrusion upon Mrs. Schiavo's personal liberty," said the filing by Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos. Felos also said he would go to the U.S. Supreme Court if the tube were ordered reconnected.\nLouise Cleary, a spokeswoman at Woodside Hospice, said she could not discuss Terri Schiavo's condition for reasons of privacy.\nOver the weekend, Republicans in Congress pushed through unprecedented emergency legislation aimed at prolonging Schiavo's life by allowing the case to be reviewed by federal courts.\nHowever, despite that legislation, U.S. District Judge James Whittemore of Tampa rejected the parents' emergency request to have the tube reconnected early Tuesday, saying they had not established their probability of prevailing at a trial on their claim that Terri Schiavo's religious and due process rights have been violated.\nBobby Schindler, her brother, said his family was crushed.\n"To have to see my parents go through this is absolutely barbaric," he said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "I'd love for these judges to sit in a room and see this happening as well."\nBy mid-afternoon, about 75 protesters gathered outside of the hospice, virtually all them upset with Whittemore's decision. They carried signs and shouted through bullhorns. One woman was arrested for trespassing after trying to bring Schiavo a cup of water.\nAmong those supporting the federal judge's decision was Richard Avant, who lives down the street from the hospice and carried a sign reading "Honor her wishes."\n"We represent the silent majority, if you look at the polls," Avant said. "We agree that Congress overstepped their bounds."\nThe Bush administration "would have preferred a different ruling" from the federal judge, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in Albuquerque, N.M., where the president was visiting a senior center. "We hope that they would be able to have relief through the appeals process"