No Kidney Damage Seen As Feeding Continues

CLEARWATER - Terri Schiavo is showing signs that her kidneys were not damaged during the week she went without food or water in the battle over her fate.

Her husband, Michael, has vowed to keep up his fight for the right to stop feeding his wife in the face of opposition from in-laws Bob and Mary Schindler, Gov. Jeb Bush and the Legislature, his attorney said Thursday.

"Terri is generally stable. Her face is somewhat gaunt, [but] her color and complexion are good and she is showing the same involuntary reactions" that she did before her feeding tube was removed Oct. 15, attorney George Felos said.

"There was concern of possible kidney damage. It is my understanding Terri has started to pass urine, and that is a very positive sign," Felos said.

It will be a few days before blood tests can determine whether her kidneys have permanent damage, Felos said.

Michael Schiavo has decided not to back down from his court battle of more than five years with the Schindlers over his contention that Terri Schiavo would not want to be kept alive in what most doctors term a persistent vegetative state, Felos said.

"We've talked to Michael today, and he is determined to continue with this case," Felos said.

Michael Schiavo was "discouraged" this week when the Legislature enacted a controversial law allowing Bush to order that Terri Schiavo be provided liquid nutrition through a feeding tube inserted into her stomach, Felos said.

Terri Schiavo, 39, has relied on the feeding tube since suffering unexplained heart failure in 1990 at age 26.

After a January 2000 nonjury trial, Circuit Judge George Greer found that evidence showed most of Schiavo's brain was destroyed and that before her illness, she made statements indicating she would not want to be kept alive with no hope of improvement. Greer's ruling has been repeatedly upheld on appeal.

The Schindlers say they never heard their daughter make statements about not wanting to be kept alive in such a state. Terri Schiavo responds to them and could improve if provided therapy, the St. Petersburg couple contend.

After visiting their daughter at a Pinellas Park hospice Thursday, the Schindlers said she appeared to have improved since Wednesday night, when she was discharged from Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater.

"She has her color back," Bob Schindler said. "She's tired, but she looks wonderful."

Still, the Schindler family remains concerned.

"If we hear there's been no internal damage, ... then we'll feel better," said her sister, Suzanne Carr.

The feeding tube was removed Oct. 15 on court orders. It was reinserted late Tuesday after the Legislature and Bush intervened.

Felos immediately filed a lawsuit attacking what has been dubbed "Terri's Law" as unconstitutional. Legal scholars say it sets a bad precedent by violating the separation of governmental powers.

Had Michael Schiavo backed out of the case, it would have been doubtful that the courts would get a chance to rule on the constitutionality of Terri's Law, said Michael Allen, who teaches constitutional law at Stetson University.

"The law was crafted very narrowly, so I don't think there would be anybody else to step into the breach," Allen said.

Felos said he hopes Circuit Judge Douglas Baird, who is hearing the new lawsuit, will quickly find the law unconstitutional. Felos' written brief is due Monday, and state Attorney General Charlie Crist's response is due five days later.

If Baird and the regional appeals court act quickly, the issue could be before the Florida Supreme Court as early as next month, Felos said.