Ping
Schiavo autopsy report to be released Wednesday
June 14, 2005
TAMPA, Fla. Terri Schiavo's relatives say they are hoping that her autopsy results, scheduled to be made public Wednesday, can shed some light on what led to her collapse and severe brain damage 15 years ago.
The 41-year-old Pinellas County woman, who most doctors said was in a persistent vegetative state, died March 31, nearly two weeks after the feeding tube keeping her alive was removed by a court order sought by her husband, Michael Schiavo.
Her death marked the end of a bitter, seven-year legal battle between Michael Schiavo and her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who desperately tried to keep her alive. Their efforts reached the halls of the Congress and made news around the world.
Now, more than two months after her death, the medical examiner's office said Tuesday that the autopsy report is complete and plans to release it at a news conference Wednesday morning. Attorneys for Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers expect to get the report hours before it is made public.
Terri Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, said Tuesday his family is eager to see if the results will indicate what went wrong when her heart stopped beating for several minutes at her St. Petersburg apartment Feb. 25, 1990.
The cause of her collapse has never been definitely proven, but testimony in a 1992 civil trial indicated that she probably was suffering from an eating disorder that led to a severe chemical imbalance and a heart attack.
The Schindlers, though, don't believe she had an eating disorder and have accused Michael Schiavo of abusing his wife, a charge he vehemently denies.
"Our family would really like to know what caused Terri's collapse," Bobby Schindler said. "I don't know what they can and can't find 15 years after the fact. If we could get some of our questions answered as to how Terri ended up the way she did, that would be helpful."
During the long legal battle, the Schindlers unsuccessfully sought independent investigation of their daughter's condition and what caused it. Numerous abuse complaints to state social workers were ruled unfounded.
Michael Schiavo's attorney, George 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."
"I think everyone who has followed the facts in this case knows there is no substance to those (abuse) charges, and I'm confident we're not going to hear anything differently from the medical examiner," Felos said.
Bill Pellan, chief investigator for the medical examiner's office, said Tuesday that Thogmartin also reviewed police reports, medical records and other documents in trying to determine the cause of her brain damage. The issue of whether she was in a persistent vegetative state "will be addressed," Pellan said, although he would not comment further Tuesday.
Bobby Schindler said the family still has not been told about plans for Terri's cremated remains. Michael Schiavo has said he would bury them at his family's cemetery in Pennsylvania, but it is unknown whether that has occurred. Michael Schiavo is required by court order to tell the Schindlers his plans, but they say he has yet to contact them.
Without the remains, funerals were conducted in Gulfport by her family and by friends in Pennsylvania, where she was born and reared.
Felos referred questions about the remains to Michael's brother, Brian Schiavo, who did not return a phone call Tuesday.
About 40 judges in six courts were involved in the Schiavo case at one point or another on its way to becoming the most famous and bitterly fought right-to-die saga in U.S. history.
Michael Schiavo convinced Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer that his wife would not want to be kept alive artificially with no hope of recovery, contending that she made statements to that effect before her collapse.
Her parents doubt she had any such end-of-life wishes and also disputed that she was in a persistent vegetative state as court-ordered doctors determined. They believed she could get better with therapy.
Twice Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed by court order and twice it was reinserted. The second time, in October 2003, Gov. Jeb Bush intervened, pushing a law through the Legislature authorizing him to resume her artificial feedings six days after they were stopped. That law eventually was struck down by the state Supreme Court as unconstitutional.
The tube was removed for the final time March 18 at the Pinellas Park hospice where she lived. As Schiavo faded, Congress rushed through a bill to allow the federal courts to take up the case, and President Bush signed it March 21. But the federal courts refused to step in.
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050614/APN/506140984