The feeding tube of comatose Florida woman Terri Schiavo(L), seen here in a family picture, was removed after a day of conflicting legal orders and attempted intervention by federal legislators in the case. (AFP file photo)

    WASHINGTON, March 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Doctors removed the feeding tube that has kept a brain-damaged Florida woman alive for 15 years on Friday after the presiding judge over the case declined the effort by Republican lawmakers in Washington to intervene.

    Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer determined during a telephone hearing that his order to remove the feeding tube for Terri Schiavo should be carried out.

    "I have had no cogent reason why the (congressional) committee should intervene," he said.

    The ruling came after Republican congressional leaders subpoenaed Schiavo to appear before Congress hearings and committees later this month in a last-minute bid to keep her feeding tube in place.

    Schiavo's husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, has engaged in a seven-year court battle with her parents. Michael has urged the removal of the feeding tube, saying his wife would rather die in her condition, and her parents insisted that Schiavobe kept alive.

    Some doctors have testified that Terri Schiavo, 41, is in a persistent vegetative state, after a sudden heart attack, with no hope for recovery, but Schiavo's parents would not give up any sign of hope.

    In one of the fiercest life-and-death battles in the United States, Schiavo's feeding tube was removed twice and then resumed.

    The state House in Florida passed a bill Thursday to extend life support for Schiavo, but the state Senate defeated a similar measure. The US Supreme Court has repeatedly refused to intervene in the case. Enditem