News Channel 8 report
Shindler's Press Conference

Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer issued the order two days after her parents asked the court to block their son-in-law from ordering doctors to remove the feeding tube that keeps the 41-year- old woman alive.

He had granted Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, a stay until 5 p.m. Friday. His latest order extended that stay until 1 p.m. March 18.

Greer made his decision after pleadings from the Schindlers that they need more time to pursue additional medical tests which might prove their daughter has more mental capabilities than previously thought.

The Department of Children & Families was also seeking to intervene in the case. Attorneys for the Schindlers said the agency wanted a 60-day stay to investigate allegations she is being mistreated by being denied appropriate medical care and rehabilitation.

The Schindlers and their son-in-law have fought each other in court since the late 1990s on whether Terri Schiavo should live or die. The two sides have fought their battle on every level of the Florida court system, through scores of opinions and rulings and tens of thousands of pages of filings.

Friday's decision came on the 15th anniversary of her collapse when a chemical imbalance caused her heart to stop beating.

The Schindlers do not believe their daughter is in a persistent vegetative state as court-appointed doctors have ruled. Michael Schiavo says he is seeking to carry out his wife's wishes not to be kept alive artificially.

The legal family feud has taken on elements of a soap opera, with allegations that it began as a fight over more than $1 million awarded to Terri Schiavo in a medical malpractice case which her husband stood to inherit. Michael Schiavo has also been accused by his in-laws of having a conflict of interest in wanting his wife dead because he has started a new family with another woman.

The U.S. Supreme Court had declined to become involved in any aspect of the case.

AP-ES-02-25-05 1522EST