Schiavo autopsy finds no sign of trauma

[Cerran]

LARGO, Florida (AP) -- An autopsy on Terri Schiavo backed her husband's contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state, finding that she had massive and irreversible brain damage and was blind, the medical examiner's office said Wednesday. It also found no evidence that she was strangled or otherwise abused.

But what caused her collapse 15 years earlier remained a mystery. The autopsy and post-mortem investigation found no proof that she had an eating disorder, as was suspected at the time, Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Jon Thogmartin said.

Autopsy results on the 41-year-old brain-damaged woman were made public Wednesday, more than two months after her death March 31 ended a right-to-die battle between her husband and parents that engulfed the courts, Congress and the White House and divided the country.

She died from dehydration, Thogmartin said. He said she did not appear to have suffered a heart attack and there was no evidence that she was given harmful drugs or other substances prior to her death.

He said that after her feeding tube was removed, she would not have been able to eat or drink if she had been given food by mouth, as her parents' requested.

"Removal of her feeding tube would have resulted in her death whether she was fed or hydrated by mouth or not," Thogmartin told reporters.

He also said she was blind, because the "vision centers of her brain were dead," and that her brain was about half of its expected size when she died 13 days following the feeding tube's removal.

Michael Schiavo said his wife never would have wanted to be kept alive in what court-appointed doctors concluded was a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. The Schindlers, however, doubted she had any such end-of-life wishes and disputed that she was in a vegetative state.

The medical examiner's conclusions countered a videotape released by the Schindlers of Terri Schiavo in her hospice bed. The video showed Schiavo appearing to turn toward her mother's voice and smile, moaning and laughing. Her head moved up and down and she seemed to follow the progress of a brightly colored Mickey Mouse balloon.

They believed her condition could improve with therapy.

However, doctors said her reactions were automatic responses and not evidence of thought or consciousness, and Thogmartin's report went farther.

"The brain weighed 615 grams, roughly half of the expected weight of a human brain," he said. "This damage was irreversible, and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons."

Thogmartin said the autopsy report was based on 274 external and internal body images, and an exhaustive review of Terri Schiavo's medical records, police reports and social services agency records.

He said hospital records of her 1990 collapse showed she had a diminished potassium level in her blood. But he said that did not prove she had an eating disorder, because the emergency treatment she received at the time could have affected the potassium level.

Testimony in a 1992 civil trial indicated that she probably was suffering from an eating disorder that led to a severe chemical imbalance.

Over the years, the Schindlers had sought independent investigation of their daughter's condition and what caused it. Abuse complaints to state social workers were ruled unfounded and the Pinellas state attorney's office did not turn up evidence of abuse.

Calls seeking comments Wednesday from the Schindlers and Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, were not immediately returned.

Speaking before the report was issued, Felos, said the Schindlers continue to engage in a "smear campaign against Michael to deflect the real issues in the case, which were Terri's wishes and her medical condition."

During the seven-year legal battle, federal and state courts repeatedly rejected extraordinary attempts at intervention by Florida lawmakers, Gov. Jeb Bush, Congress and President Bush on behalf of her parents.

Supporters of the Schindlers harshly criticized the courts. Many religious groups, including the Roman Catholic Church, said the removal of sustenance violated fundamental religious tenets.

About 40 judges in six courts were involved in the case at one point or another. Six times, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene. As Schiavo's life ebbed away following the final removal of her feeding tube, Congress rushed through a bill to allow the federal courts to take up the case, and President Bush signed it March 21, but federal courts refused to step in.

[Guest charlie]

Imagine that; and that poor baptist judge was asked to leave his church for doing the right thing - following the law instead of making law.

[Cerran]

I'd like to see the religous leaders who basically called for Michael Shiavo's head to step forward and apologize. However since we live in the age of no accountability that isn't going to happen.

I don't condone Michael Shiavo's adultury but it's now very obvious that he and his medical experts were right.

And you're right Charlie, why so many Christians jumped on the bandwagon against Judge Greer is beyond me. The man did his job and didn't do what so many bad judges have done before, legislate from the bench. The irony is I constantly hear from Christians about "activist judges".

[Ovedya]

The autopsy and post-mortem investigation found no proof that she had an eating disorder...

No. Wait. That can't be true. Because, you see, the family had said all along that Terri didn't have an eating disorder. But Michael insisted that she did!

Say it ain't so!

Let's see here: They didn't find any evidence of abuse. Well, ge, I wonder why? She had only been laying in a hospital bed for somewhere along the order of TEN YEARS after the initial incident. I would think that those wounds would have healed by then.

The orginal admitting report showed that she had signs of trauma consistent with abuse, but the judge didn't allow that evidence into the case. Why is that?

[Guest charlie]

Uh-oh Oveyda, you're coming dangerously close to suggesting there's some sort of conspiracy going on here......

You better delete yourself or lock this thread up tight before it goes any further.

[Sojc]

The autopsy and post-mortem investigation found no proof that she had an eating disorder...

No. Wait. That can't be true. Because, you see, the family had said all along that Terri didn't have an eating disorder. But Michael insisted that she did!

Say it ain't so!

Let's see here: They didn't find any evidence of abuse. Well, ge, I wonder why? She had only been laying in a hospital bed for somewhere along the order of TEN YEARS after the initial incident. I would think that those wounds would have healed by then.

The orginal admitting report showed that she had signs of trauma consistent with abuse, but the judge didn't allow that evidence into the case. Why is that?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The possibility that crime was the cause of Terri's condition is and always was a seperate matter legally from pulling the plug on Terri.

The medical consensus before her death was that Terri was in a persistent vegetated state and could not recover.

The autopsy has shown that Terri's brain was 1/2 normal size due to years of atrophy, and she was blind and had no chance of recovery.

Whether or not one thinks something could have been done earlier was beside the point, the issue of the case was whether by 2003-2005 she was conscious or had any chance of recovery.

As much as it is hard to admit, Terri's husband was essentially right about her state, even if he did cause it (which I am not inclined to believe).

Edited June 15, 2005 by Sojc

[Ovedya]

No, there's no conspiracy. Just a conflict between the autopsy and what Michael Schiavo claimed was the cause of Terri's condition.

[Cerran]

You're making the jump from no proof of an eating disorder to "She didn't have one" Ovedya.

The same fallacy applies to the abuse allegations.

You're contending that the abuse was covered up by healing over time yet the type of injuries that would cause the severe brain damage that put Terri in that state would likely still be evident 10 years later. I broke my arm 13 years ago, recently had an x-ray for a wrist injury and the doctor commented on the evidence of a previous fracture in my arm. Just because it happened 10 years ago doesn't mean there would be no evidence.

Is it possible there would be no evidence? Yes. Is it likely? No.

The orginal admitting report showed that she had signs of trauma consistent with abuse, but the judge didn't allow that evidence into the case. Why is that?

I've seen a lot of sites say this but yet to see anyone post the original admitting report. Do you have a link?

[Guest charlie]

It wasn't just Michael Shiavo's claim that she had an eating disorder; her parents also said she did and a court of law agreed with them. I have no idea what will, and what won't, show up in a person's dead body when that body is kept on artificial life support for 15 years; I'm not trained in that.

One thing we do know for sure; her eyes weren't following a balloon, and the nurses who said they talked to her were LYING.

Edited June 15, 2005 by charlie

[Ovedya]

It wasn't just Michael Shiavo's claim that she had an eating disorder; her parents also said she did and a court of law agreed with them.    I have no idea what will, and what won't, show up in a person's dead body when that body is kept on artificial life support for 15 years; I'm not trained in that.

One thing we do know for sure; her eyes weren't following a balloon, and the nurses who said they talked to her were LYING.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We know this for sure.....how? Because of the autopsy?

I'm pretty sure her parents never agreed that she had an eating disorder.