TAMPA, Fla. (ABP) – In another attempt to keep their daughter alive, Terri Schiavo's parents asked a judge in Pinellas County Feb. 28 to allow her to divorce her husband, effectively taking away his right to make decisions on her behalf.
Accusing Michael Schiavo of adultery and not acting in his wife's best interest, Bob and Mary Schindler filed that and another 10 motions as a last-ditch effort to keep doctors from removing a feeding tube that has kept her alive for the past 15 years.
Schiavo is scheduled to have the feeding tube removed March 18 unless her parents can convince an appeals court to block the legal rulings obtained by her husband, who contends his wife would not have wanted to be kept alive artificially. Schiavo has been in what her doctors call a “vegetative state” since she collapsed in 1990.
According to news reports, David Gibbs, the Schindlers' attorney, said Florida Sixth Circuit Court Judge George Greer has indicated he will not hear the divorce request or five other motions but will hear those motions that would deal with the time between when the tube is removed to when Terri Schiavo might die. Those not heard will likely be appealed to the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland.