Clearwater, Fla. ? Citing a Kansas case, the parents of a severely brain-damaged woman at the center of a contentious right-to-die case said Thursday they would ask a judge to delay the removal of her feeding tube so more medical tests can be performed to better determine her condition.

An attorney for Bob and Mary Schindler said new medical technology could better assess Terri Schiavo’s brain activity and those tests should be done before her husband is allowed to remove the feeding tube keeping her alive.

With other legal options running out, the attorney, David Gibbs III, said he would file a motion Monday asking Circuit Judge George Greer to allow the tests. Also Monday, a hearing is scheduled in which Gibbs will ask the judge to extend a court-ordered stay set to expire Tuesday.

Barring any more court-ordered delays, the tube could be removed sometime after Tuesday.

“I think the bottom line is that Terri deserves to get these tests,” Bob Schindler said. “It would be unconscionable for Judge Greer or any other judge to order her death without these tests.”

The Schindlers have been fighting their son-in-law, Michael Schiavo, in court for years over what should happen to their daughter. He contends his 41-year-old wife who suffered severe brain damage 15 years ago would not want to be kept alive artificially; her parents contend she had no such death wish and could get better with therapy.

The Schindlers also dispute that she is in what the court has determined is a persistent vegetative state. They say she laughs, reacts to them and tries to speak.

The family pointed to recent news that a woman left in a coma 20 years after being struck by a drunken driver recently began to speak. Sarah Scantlin, of Hutchinson, Kan., began to talk after decades of being able to communicate only in the simplest ways.

They also point to new medical research published in the journal Neurology showing brain scans of some severely brain-damaged patients prompted a pattern of brain activity similar to that of healthy people.

Michael Schiavo’s attorney, George Felos, did not immediately return a phone call Thursday.

The Schindlers’ other legal options have dwindled in recent weeks. Gibbs plans appeals on some other issues, but state courts have consistently ruled against the parents.

The family has again turned to Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry to organize a public relations campaign that includes demonstrations and lobbying of Gov. Jeb Bush and lawmakers to intervene to save the woman’s life. He said they also plan to picket Michael Schiavo’s home and workplace.

The Florida Legislature intervened in the case in 2003 with a hastily passed law allowing Bush to order the feedings restored six days after Michael Schiavo had them stopped. That law was subsequently struck down as unconstitutional.

Terri Schiavo, who lives in a Pinellas Park hospice, was left brain-damaged after her heart stopped beating temporarily in 1990 because of a chemical imbalance. She can breathe but is dependent on a feeding tube for nutrition and hydration.