Terri Schiavo's parents are continuing their relentless efforts to have her feeding tube reinserted as a federal appeals court panel rejected yet another appeal.

Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer is expected to announce a decision by noon ET Saturday on the motion by Bob and Mary Schindler who want their daughter's feeding tube reinserted.

They claim Terri said "AHHHHH" and "WAAAAAAA" when asked to repeat the phrase "I want to live."

Emerging from the Florida hospice where his brain-damaged daughter is being cared for, Bob Schindler expressed his frustration on Friday.

"What you're seeing is textbook example of judicial tyranny," he said, accusing the courts of having, "a mindset to kill Terri."

"I think it's disgusting and revolting what these courts have done to her."

Just hours earlier, a federal appeals court dealt Bob and Mary Schindler the latest in a series of legal defeats when it refused to order the reinsertion of Schiavo's feeding tube.

Marking the third such decision in four days, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said it had already ruled on most issues -- and those it hadn't did not apply.

Schiavo's feeding tube was removed last Friday, after a Florida judge ruled in favour of her husband's argument -- that Terri did not want to be kept alive artificially.

When asked about how his daughter was doing after a week without food or water, Schindler said she "is weakening."

"She is down to her last hours. So something has to be done, and has to be done quick," he said Friday morning.

After another visit in the afternoon, Schindler said his daughter's decline was marked.

"I told her that we're still fighting for her, and she shouldn't give up because we're not. But I think the people who are anxious to see her die are getting their wish."

Terri's plea

Despite a growing list of judicial setbacks that have gone as high as the U.S. Supreme Court, the Schindlers showed they weren't defeated with one more filing.

Schiavo, 41, has been in what doctors have diagnosed as a persistent vegetative state since 1990, when she suffered brain damage after her heart stopped briefly from a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder.

Because she left no living will, there was no easy resolution to the bitter battle that subsequently developed between her parents and husband.

Political pressure

When the Schindlers spoke to reporters late Friday, they made a direct plea to Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

"Governor Bush has the authority to stop all this," Bob Schindler said. "He's put Terri thorough a week of hell and my family through a week of hell by not acting... And I implore him to put a stop to this.

"This is judicial homicide."

As a constant supporter of the Schindlers, the governor's office was still clinging to hope Friday that the courts would allow the state to assume custody of Schiavo.

"We are continuing to do whatever we can and we are pursuing all the options available to us in this case," Bush spokesperson Jacob DiPietre said.

On Thursday, a petition from the state's Department of Children and Families and Gov. Bush to gain custody of Schiavo, and presumably reconnect her feeding tube, was denied.

Bush and the department were challenging doctors' diagnoses that Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state, based on what they said was new evidence from a neurologist.

Greer said an affidavit from a neurologist who believes Schiavo is "minimally conscious" was not enough to overturn his decision to allow the withdrawal of food and water.

Gov. Bush has already ordered his legal team to look over state laws to see if there is any way to get Schiavo's feeding tube reconnected.

This is the third time Schiavo has had her feeding tube removed. It was removed for two days in 2001 and six days in 2003.

Doctors have said Schiavo could expect to live no more than two weeks, after her feeding tube is removed.

Earlier reports, based on family friends and attorneys, said Schiavo is beginning to show the effects of dehydration, including flaky skin, dry tongue and lips, and sunken eyes.

With files from CTV News and The Associated Press