Schiavo Autopsy Shows Massive Brain Damage

[Martrae]

Jun 15, 2:48 PM (ET)

By MITCH STACY

(AP) Terri Schiavo is shown in this undated Schindler family photo taken shortly after she had a heart...
LARGO, Fla. (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 ago 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.

Her parents cling to their belief that her condition could have improved, in spite of the autopsy report, their lawyer said.

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 parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, doubted she had any such end-of-life wishes and disputed that she was in a vegetative state.

Regardless of the autopsy findings, the Schindlers continue to believe their daughter was not in a persistent vegetative state, their lawyer, David Gibbs III, said after Thogmartin's report. He said they plan to discuss the autopsy with other medical experts and may take some unspecified legal action.

"We are, at this point, examining every option and no decisions have been made," Gibbs said.

Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, said his client "was pleased to hear the hard science and evidence of those findings."

"It's a hard fact, it's a scientific fact that Terri Schiavo was blind," Felos said. He said Michael Schiavo plans to release autopsy photographs of her shrunken brain in the near future.

In Washington, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said that the autopsy results did not change the president's position on her case.

"Our thoughts and prayers remain with her family and friends," McClellan said. "The president was deeply saddened by this case."

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.

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.





Her parents' lawyer is a lucky fellow. This is just the type of client lawyers love, stupid and willing to spend all their money proving it.

[Gidan]

Yup, he is a very happy lawyer.

[Narrock]

What a complete crock of shit. You just gotta love the selective doctors who were hand-picked by Schiavo's attorney to perform the autopsies.

[Martrae]

You friggin moron...it was the county coroner.

[Gidan]

What a complete crock of shit. You just gotta love the selective doctors who were hand-picked by Schiavo's attorney to perform the autopsies.

Umm you have got to be kidding me, this wasn't performed by some hand picked group of doctors. It was the Chief Medical examiner of the county that performed it.

[KILL]

What a complete crock of shit. You just gotta love the selective doctors who were hand-picked by Schiavo's attorney to perform the autopsies.

[mappatazee]

What a complete crock of shit. You just gotta love the selective doctors who were hand-picked by Schiavo's attorney to perform the autopsies.

Dumbass

[Narrock]

I knew that get ya riled up lol

[Phlegm]

I knew that get ya riled up lol

nice try to recover.

[Narrock]

I knew that get ya riled up lol

nice try to recover.

nice try to think I was being serious the first post, dumbass.

[Phlegm]

I knew that get ya riled up lol

[Narrock]

I knew that'd get ya riled up lol

[The Kizzy]

Wow, I'm glad she is at peace, with God, where she belongs. If this ever happens to me, I don't want to be kept alive more than a month or so.

[Yamori]

Mindia, you're so deranged that we can't tell when you're joking. If you even do.

[Markarado]

LOL Minda u sure u were joking? Next time make the sarcasm a bit more obvious =P

[Narrock]

LOL Minda u sure u were joking? Next time make the sarcasm a bit more obvious =P

When all this was going on I was very pissed off at Mr. Schiavo. I thought he was being a selfish @$$hole, and I couldn't understand for the life of me why the government wouldn't step in and save her. A lot of people jumped my shit for taking that stance a couple months ago. Now the results came in from the autopsy and I made a joke about it... the rest is typical NT mentality.

[Narrock]

Mindia, you're so deranged that we can't tell when you're joking. If you even do.

uh... kettle, pot, black. My viewpoints are much more accepted by the vast majority of Americans than yours are, Yamori. So, this statement you've just made is quite bizarro. Your mind is freaked, son. I still like you though. :P

[Tossica]

Mindia, you're so deranged that we can't tell when you're joking. If you even do.

uh... kettle, pot, black. My viewpoints are much more accepted by the vast majority of Americans than yours are, Yamori. So, this statement you've just made is quite bizarro. Your mind is freaked, son. I still like you though. :P

A majority of Americans are fucking retards. I hope that makes you feel better about your "popular" views.

[Narrock]

Mindia, you're so deranged that we can't tell when you're joking. If you even do.

uh... kettle, pot, black. My viewpoints are much more accepted by the vast majority of Americans than yours are, Yamori. So, this statement you've just made is quite bizarro. Your mind is freaked, son. I still like you though. :P

A majority of Americans are fucking retards. I hope that makes you feel better about your "popular" views.

I disagree with that statement. I would agree that a LOT of Americans are retards... just look at all the "blue voting" states... nuff said.

[Darcler]

No, we all know that you jump into an arguement with your sword drawn without even reading articles fully. If you DO read them, you twist whatever you can to fit your arguement.

At any rate, I'd love to see photos...maybe even her file. I'm still so fascinated by all this, the science of the brain, what can and cannot be retrained to perform normal functions. The debates....neat stuff.

[Narrock]

No, we all know that you jump into an arguement with your sword drawn without even reading articles fully. If you DO read them, you twist whatever you can to fit your arguement.

At any rate, I'd love to see photos...maybe even her file. I'm still so fascinated by all this, the science of the brain, what can and cannot be retrained to perform normal functions. The debates....neat stuff.

Yeah, I did that like twice in my entire NT life. Sorry if I don't like reading 20 paragraphs of propagandist drivel posted by a myrmidon of the liberal elite. I just jumped to an improper conclusion a time or two... excuse the hell out of me.

Anyway, yeah I'd love to see those photos too.

[Markarado]

I would agree that a LOT of Americans are retards... just look at all the "blue voting" states... nuff said

[Darcler]

No Mindia, dear. You do it all the time. The backpeddal with the "I WAS KIDDING LOL" statement.
Accept you are wrong by saying "Oops, I didnt read that part, my bad." I do it all the time, because I cant sit here and read a huge paragraph with the kidlet learning to crawl, so I forget what I just read and make many mistakes when I say something about it

[Narrock]

No Mindia, dear. You do it all the time. The backpeddal with the "I WAS KIDDING LOL" statement.
Accept you are wrong by saying "Oops, I didnt read that part, my bad." I do it all the time, because I cant sit here and read a huge paragraph with the kidlet learning to crawl, so I forget what I just read and make many mistakes when I say something about it

No, Darcler my dear. I only said that I was just kidding ONCE. And it was about an hour ago in this thread. I don't need to backpedal, ever. I stand by my statements, and I stand by my convictions.

[Captain Insano]

you all have made terry riled up!

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