An autopsy would not likely help resolve the debate over whether Terri's condition is a persistent vegetative state or if, as some neurologists and doctors suggest, she is minimally conscious and able to interact on a limited basis."Persistent vegetative state or minimally conscious state is a clinical diagnosis," Michael De Georgia, head of the neurology/neurosurgery intensive care unit at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, says. "It cannot be confirmed by autopsy."
George Felos, the euthanasia advocate who is Michael's lead attorney, told reporters that Michael switched his position on the autopsy in part to be able to prove his contention that Terri is PVS.
Yet, according to a Medpage report, Harvard neuropathologist E. Tessa Hedley Whyte said the brain "can't tell if there is a persistent vegetative state or not."
"The autopsy will show damage -- probably mostly scarring now -- and that damage will most likely correspond to some extent to what was seen on images," Whyte said.
Though the autopsy will confirm that Terri is severely mentally disabled as a result of her collapse and the deprivation of oxygen to her brain, Dr. De Georgia warns of reading too much into it and concluding that it shows Terri was a PVS patient.
"[T]here is no standard cutoff that says if you lose this many brain cells you are in a persistent vegetative state," he told Medpage.
Michael Williams, an associate medical professor at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, adds that "pathology alone cannot prove or disprove a diagnosis of persistent vegetative state."
What the autopsy could do, however, is help determine whether Michael abused Terri, leading to her collapse.[excerpt]
Michael "changed his mind" because Terri is required to undergo an autopsy. I have heard two things: one that it is required for anyone dying in a hospice and another that it is required for cremation. This is quite transparent.