The US Senate passed legislation that congressional leaders hope will keep alive a heavily brain-damaged Florida woman, Terri Schiavo (R), who has been fed artificially for 15 years.

Warning that Terri Schiavo was "fading quickly" and might die at any moment, her parents begged a federal appeals court Tuesday to order the severely brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reinserted.

David Gibbs III, attorney for parents Bob and Mary Schindler, told the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta that the 41-year-old woman might die before they could get a chance to fully argue their case that her rights are being violated. The appeal came after a federal judge in Tampa rejected the parents' emergency request.

"Where, as here, death is imminent , it is hard to imagine more critical and exigent circumstances," Gibbs said in the appeal filed electronically with the court. "Terri is fading quickly and her parents reasonably fear that her death is imminent."

There was no immediate indication of when the appeals court might rule.

Even before the parents' appeal was filed, the woman's husband urged the 11th Circuit not to grant an emergency request to restore nutrition.

"That would be a horrific intrusion upon Mrs. Schiavo's personal liberty," said the filing by Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos. He filed a response to the Schindlers' appeal and said he would go to the U.S. Supreme Court if the tube were ordered reconnected.

The Schindlers have been locked for years in a battle with Schiavo's husband over whether her feeding tube should be disconnected. State courts have sided with Michael Schiavo, who insists his wife told him she would never want to be kept alive artificially.

Late in the afternoon, the Schindlers arrived at the hospice , and Terri's mother again pleaded with state lawmakers to save her daughter's life.

"Please, senators, for the love of God, I'm begging you, don't let my daughter die of thirst," Mary Schindler said.

With that, she broke down and was escorted away.

In court documents, the couple said their daughter began "a significant decline" late Monday. Her eyes were sunken and dark, and her lips and face were dry.

"While she still made eye contact with me when I spoke to her, she was becoming increasingly lethargic ," Bob Schindler said in the papers. "Terri no longer attempted to verbalize back to me when I spoke to her."

The feeding tube was disconnected on Friday. Doctors have said Terri Schiavo could survive one to two weeks without water and nutrients.

(Agencies)

imminent: close in time; about to occur（即將來臨的，逼近的）

exigent : demanding attention（緊急的，迫切的）

hospice: a program of medical and emotional care for the terminally ill（收容所）

lethargic: deficient in alertness or activity（昏睡的）