[Shainie]

Terri Schiavo (search) was in her final hours Thursday morning, and her parents were pleading with her husband Michael Schiavo to allow them to be at their brain-damaged daughter's bedside in her final hours, a spokesman for the family said.

Schiavo was entering her 14th day without food and water amid what could be the final legal setback for her parents after the U.S. Supreme Court refused again to hear their plea to reinsert Schiavo's feeding tube.

Wednesday night's decision came hours after a federal appeals court declined to hold another hearing on the issue. It was the sixth time since 2000 that the Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case. Justices did not explain their decision and there was no indication how they voted.

It was also the second time in a week that the high court refused to hear the parents' appeal.

The latest emergency request argued that the federal courts didn't consider whether there was enough "clear and convincing" evidence that Schiavo would have chosen to die in her current condition. Doctors say she has been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years.

A court ruling had allowed her husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo (search), to order the tube that has kept her alive removed.