Terri Schiavo's feeding tube removed

CLEARWATER, Fla., March 18 (UPI) -- The feeding tube keeping a brain-damaged Tampa, Fla., woman alive was removed Friday under a court order.

The announcement the tube was removed was made by a spokesman for Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos.

Doctors have said it would take days and possibly as long as two weeks for Schiavo to die. Michael Schiavo and doctors have said she would not suffer any pain.

Florida Circuit Judge George Greer had ruled about an hour earlier the tube could be removed, The Tampa Tribune reported.

Greer refused a request from attorneys for the U.S. House to delay the removal because she had been subpoenaed to testify.

Schiavo's parents and right-to-life organizations that are helping them said they would appeal the ruling to Florida's 2nd Court of Appeals in Lakeland, Fla.

The subpoena was issued following a failed attempt to approve federal legislation to keep her alive.

Courts have ruled Schiavo, 40, of Tampa, has been in a persistent vegetative state for nearly 15 years and a five-year court battle resulted in her husband being granted the right to remove her feeding tube as of Friday.