Monsignor Thaddeus Malinowski wanted to give Terri Schiavo viaticum on Saturday but was refused entry to the hospice. He was accompanied by her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler.
Police officers told the family the Communion would violate a doctor’s order that nothing be placed in her mouth, to prevent choking and aspiration.
A last-ditch effort to replace Schiavo’s feeding tube failed Friday when a Leon County Circuit Court judge refused to issue a court order allowing Governor Jeb Bush to intervene under his constitutional authority to protect life, Tampa Bay Online reported.
Supporters who oppose orders by Schiavo’s husband to cut off her nourishment held a vigil outside the hospice.