The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta has again refused to order the reinsertion of the feeding tube into Terri Schiavo, the 41-year-old Florida woman who has been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years.

Schiavo has now been without hydration or nutrition since Friday, March 18 and is certainly near death. Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, have vowed to fight on to have the feeding tube reinserted.

The vote of the 12 judges on the panel was not disclosed but the decision read in part, 'Any further action by our court or the district court would be improper,' Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. wrote. 'While the members of her family and the members of Congress have acted in a way that is both fervent and sincere, the time has come for dispassionate discharge of duty.'

Schiavo's husband, Michael, has indicated that Terri told him she would not want to be kept alive artificially under circumstances such as these. She left no written instructions. Court appointed doctors give her no chance for recovery, a diagnosis that the Schindler's do not accept.

After trying to obtain treatment for her for approximately seven years, Michael Schiavo asked that the feeding tube be removed in accordance with what he says are his wife's wishes. There has been an ongoing court battle about it ever since.

Terri Schiavo's father told reporters after his latest legal setback, 'She's still fighting, and we'll keep fighting.'