Posted on 05/09/2005 5:30:34 AM PDT by tbritton
Schiavo findings won't be rushed
Despite conflicting calls for thoroughness and quick results, Jon Thogmartin won't let appeals from the public force his hand.
LARGO - People around the world have talked about the life and death of Terri Schiavo, but Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Jon Thogmartin will get the last word.
For the past month, he has been working on her autopsy. She has taken over his office and consumed his working hours. He appeared for an interview in blue scrubs, looking every bit the wiry medical examiner with his bald head and tiny wire-rimmed glasses.
"That's her and that's her," he says, pointing to piles of documents and boxes of slides stacked all over his office.
..
Thogmartin, 41, knows Schiavo's autopsy will probably be the most publicized of his career. He won't talk about it until he is done and estimates it will be two or three more weeks.
He has received hundreds of letters and e-mails about the brain-damaged woman who died March 31, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed. Many ask him to look for signs she wasn't brain-dead or signs of abuse, among the allegations made during the protracted battle between her parents and her husband over whether to keep her alive.
"They are of no consequence to me," says Thogmartin of the letters.
The lively Texan, publicity shy and fiercely protective of his wife's and child's privacy, is known for doing everything by the book. He denied requests from Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and her husband, Michael Schiavo, to allow their own pathologists to observe the autopsy.
"It is routine in cases of criminal importance to not allow any biased pathology advocates in the morgue," he said. "I'm the independent pathologist."
(Excerpt) Read more at sptimes.com ...
Ample protection from Jack Booted thugs?
'Pulling the plug' is a misnomer.
Terri was not plugged into anything. She simply had a feeding tube, as do hundreds of thousands of Americans in order to receive their daily nutrition.
I know.
Ah. So now you counsel war, eh?
I agree with you. I don't necessarily stand on one side or the other of this debate. I just get tired of the same allegations over and over and over...and over again. Let this all play out and accept the findings, whether they support, or hinder your arguement. I am just saying that if the doctor performing the autopsy finds no signs of Michael being responsible, then accept it. If he is indeed found responsible for causing this coma, then bring him to the justice he deserves. THEN, let us all just let Terri rest in peace and pull this neverending story off its support system. Good post, thanks for your points.
I agree with you. I don't necessarily stand on one side or the other of this debate. I just get tired of the same allegations over and over and over...and over again. Let this all play out and accept the findings, whether they support, or hinder your arguement. I am just saying that if the doctor performing the autopsy finds no signs of Michael being responsible, then accept it. If he is indeed found responsible for causing this coma, then bring him to the justice he deserves. THEN, let us all just let Terri rest in peace and pull this neverending story off its support system. Good post, thanks for your points.
I disagree. :o)
Not at all. Just showing the scriptural assurances of protection.
Yeah. Sure you are.
Well maybe she needed the feeding tube 16 years ago to give her the daily nutrition she needed to keep her body healthy in the first place, because her eating disorder, until proven differently, caused her coma. Stick to the facts please.
"More time for the conspiracy wonks..."
Typical comment. Conspiracy wonks ??? There was no conspiracy. She was murdered we know that already. No autopsy is going to say that she was starved to death because she couldn't feed herself. She was not sick. She was just too expensive and MS wanted the balance of the money meant for her therapy for his own personal use.
Any evidence of spousal abuse is in ashes except for the Bonescan taken early on that slipped past Pigboy. There is no way an autopsy can show a person is in a PVS. So much for autopsy's....and while those disgusting cops (just doin their jobs...) were so busy protecting the "rights" of the murderers, where are they now protecting the rights of the Schindler's to know where the ashes of their daughter finally came to rest? Where is the most esteemed and Honored (for his political stand against George and Jeb Bush) Evil Greer enforcing this court order? Not a damn word.
There was no conspiracy. The facts are right out there for everyone to see. Either you value life and family or you do not. That's the sum total of it. Michael Schiavo is a creature who used the legal system to murder his wife.
So your are gonna get this "feel good" autopsy report that her brain was mush, and there was no chance for her to ever be "normal" and we all know how important it is in todays world to be "normal", right? This report will further enable others to follow suit, hospices will make money and get rid of the non human humans (per Neurologist Cranford) Money is EVERYTHING in todays world, just ask MS the poor grieving widower, as he is off on his honeymoon, paid for by Terri, sippin those umbrella drinks, getting a nice suntan after all, he deserves the very best that Terri's Money can buy.
Maybe you should follow your own advice, since the first half of that statement is not factual.
You won't have to defend your actions or lack thereof to me. You won't be able to bait the One with turning a phrase or words as a call to armed conflict. The One who will be looking over the actions of those on that line will have the final say of "well done" or "why did you just stand there? You had all my assurances". My child lay there dying and you stood by. Maybe you'll accuse Him a being a "strawman" too.
All I will say to that is... whatever. Its a known fact that is why her brain swelled. Until you can show me a factual piece claiming otherwise I will stick by it. Not by Michael shoving her down the stairs as so many want to beleive. Just wait til the autopsy is complete. Which if it proves you and your conspiracy theorists wrong, you will say it is all nonsense just to appease the "death mongers." Even though it is an impartial physician conducting it, not Terri's parent nor Michael's hand picked doctors.
No, you can't be a Saint if you may be complicit in the condition that you may have put yourself in. So, she can in no way have any complicity in her condidtion.
Oh my... how could I ever forget. You are dead on there my friend. NOW this is all making sense... hmmmm.
"I guess I am just an amoral guy of fella. "
Yeah you probably are that, and the person whose feedtube you saw removed and died so peacefully was not Terri. Hard to compare all the different medical conditions that bring the "feeding tube" onto the scene and it's true that sometimes when there is no heart beat and a person is kept alive only by machines, you just turn them off. Terri was alive and well, she just couldnt feed herself, not that they went out of their way to retrain her, doing one test at one time for 3 times is not Therapy. It's not retraining an injured brain to perform where the injured part no longer can. She was not given a fair chance for survival. With an odious husband such as MS and I say husband with loads of sarcasm, she had no chance. I'd venture to guess if he had not received a ton of money from and lawsuit that was settled out of court (always good to remember), he'd of given custody of Terri back to her parents and gone on with his life the way he should of done all along instead of creating this horror.
..her eating disorder..
How ridiculous!! Blame a murdered victim for a disorder she never had.
There was NO EATING DISORDER.
I dont agree with your view on the Schaivo case...
She didn't have a heart attack, she did have an electrolyte imbalance that may or may not have contributed to any problems.
The fact is that no one (except maybe one person) knows at this time what caused her collapse. No one will know unless this is fully investigated by honest, compentent professionals.
Those are the facts.
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