Schiavo is 'down to her last hours'

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2005, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Terri Schiavo endured her eighth day without food or water Friday as her anguished father warned that she was ''down to her last hours.''

As time slipped away, the hopes, pleas and anger of Schiavo's parents and their supporters were directed at Gov. Jeb Bush - the man once viewed by conservatives as the brain-damaged woman's savior.

But the governor, who stayed in his office most of the day, said although he wants to help, there doesn't appear to be anything more he can do.

Outside the Governor's Mansion, about two dozen Good Friday demonstrators endured heavy rains, focusing on what they called their last hope.

One carried a sign saying, ''Jeb, You Shall Not Murder.'' Other placards likened the governor to Pontius Pilate, suggesting that Bush was unwilling to intervene to help the 41-year-old severely brain-damaged woman.

At the hospice in Pinellas Park where Schiavo lives, relatives and others were also hoping for a miracle as several more people were arrested and charged with trespassing for trying to deliver water to her.

''I told her that we're still fighting for her, and she shouldn't give up because we're not,'' said Robert Schindler, whose eyes were teary after visiting his daughter late Friday. ''But I think the people who are anxious to see her die are getting their wish. It's happening.''

Earlier, Schindler said his daughter was ''weakening'' and appeared close to death.

''She is down to her last hours, so something has to be done and it has to be done quick,'' he said.

Doctors have said they expect Schiavo to die within a week or two after the tube's removal.

The pleas came on another day of courtroom pleas for Bob and Mary Schindler, Schiavo's parents.

Friday evening, her parents made a last-ditch effort to convince a state judge to restore her tube.

Attorney Barbara Weller told the judge that when she asked Schiavo on March 18 to say, ''I want to live,'' the woman mouthed, ''AHHHH WAAAAAAA.''

''We stand here quite honestly expecting Terri to slip into eternity over this Easter weekend,'' added David Gibbs, an attorney for the Schindlers.

Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer, who has turned back each of the Schindlers' appeals, said he wasn't sure when he would rule on the motion.

Earlier in the day, U.S. District Judge James Whittemore, for the second time in a week, denied a request to re-insert the feeding tube.

Attorneys for the Schindlers immediately appealed the ruling to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court in Atlanta which, along with the U.S. Supreme Court, has denied a previous request to restore her feedings.

FBI agents Friday arrested a North Carolina man for soliciting the murder of Michael Schiavo.

According to the FBI, Richard Alan Meywes, who lives in North Carolina, said in an e-mail written Tuesday that a ''bounty with a price tag of $250,000 has been taken out on the head of Michael Schiavo,'' adding that, ''an additional $50,000 has been offered for the elimination of the judge who ruled against Terry [sic] in Florida.''

For Florida's governor, who within Republican circles is seen as a possible future presidential contender, the Schiavo case has stirred up some harsh political crosswinds.

Bush has long relied on unswerving support from the party's right, which gave him renewed praise for pushing the Legislature to act in 2003 to keep Schiavo alive and again calling for action this spring.

But the 2003 law that allowed Schiavo's feeding tube to be reinserted after six days was eventually declared unconstitutional. And earlier this week, the state Senate rejected Bush's latest plea that lawmakers approve legislation aimed at continuing sustenance.

So as each legislative and court option melted away, the focus narrowed to the governor.

Polls released earlier this week by ABC News and the BBC have found that Americans think, by a 2-to-1 margin, that Schiavo should be allowed to die and that government should not interfere.

A new poll conducted for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel released Friday also found that 62 percent of likely voters in Florida say they would remove the feeding tube if they were Schiavo's family member.

Bush's critics say those numbers show he is out of touch with the mainstream.

''Jeb Bush got involved with this issue to shore up the Republican base and that has now backfired on him,'' said Scott Maddox, Florida's Democratic Party chairman. ''He's turned off most Americans by trying to interfere both with the most private affairs of a family and with the judiciary.''