Posted on 06/15/2005 9:51:07 PM PDT by FairOpinion
Cause of Death: Complications of Anoxic Encephalopathy.
Manner of Death: Undetermined
The persistent vegetative state and minimally conscious state, are clinical diagnoses, not pathologic ones.
(these are all statements from the report)
(Excerpt) Read more at sptimes.com ...
I find the listing of the cause of death totally unacceptable. They are supposed to list the immediate, direct cause of death, which is dehydration -- the ME did NOT put that down as the official cause. It doesn't matter what he says, what matters, is what's in the autopsy report.
Suppose someone shoots a person, who had Parkinson's disease, or whatever, and the person dies. Are they going to list the cause of death as "complications of Parkinson's disease"?
Also, they mention that Terri's brain weighted 625 g, about half of that of a normal brain. Well, helloooo, this is after she was being dehydrated for two weeks. The brain is 80% water, so naturally during the extended process of dehydration, it would lose water and weight. So the weight of her brain doesn't mean much.
PING for the actual 39 page autopsy report.
I don't know if it was posted inside of the various articles, but I figured people would have trouble finding it.
You may want to ping the Terri ping list.
Cause of Death: Slow Murder by Starvation, sanctioned by multiple courts.
Actual report ping.
Cause of death was dehydration.
Could being severly dehydrated cause the brain to shrink due to the fact that the brain contains water as one of the components?
I'd like to hear a MD weigh in on this question, I've seen it speculated about enough today to get my curiousity up...
That's what I think -- all your tissues lose water and there is no replenishment. I can't believe the brain would be immune to that.
But I hope some medical professionals will read the key parts of the autopsy report and post their opinion.
Even from my totally uneducated perspective, I believe this report represents a flat denial of that claim.
"reports from a brain scan that supposedly indicated that Terri's brain had atrophied to 20% of its original size "
Good point. Even after two weeks of dehydration, her brain was still half the size of a normal brain.
See if PVS is a recognized diagnosis which in and of itself will qualify under Medicare for Hospice benefits.
To my knowledge, it does not.
Here is their screwup. Suncoast is toast.
I read it, if that counts. I don't see any surprises here.
Thanks. Does the brain shrink during 2 weeks of dehydration?
I thought that the main dispute was did she deserve to live or die. I thought her family wanted to take care of her knowing of the brain damage but the husband, et al. said no, she should die it's "what she wanted." I thought that there were many disputes. Not all have been settled says the report.
I guess it's called MSM spinning and spiking. It's what they do. ABC was one of the phony polls that served as a news item for days, "99.9999999999999999 percent of Americans want her 'released'!"
My other opinion is that it is not important how much her brain weighed, as the report itself implies. Each area of the brain carries a specific function, so localized destruction seems more relevant than overall weight.
Reading the report simply confirmed for me the incredible cruelty of this manner of killing someone. Kidney stones, pneumonia, perhaps metabolic acidosis, uremia, and certainly bladder inflammation - all miserable things to endure and often quite painful.
And nothing to relieve pain. The acetaminophen level was not therapeutic. No one gives acetaminophen to patients with kidney stones or pneumonia who is supposed to live, and considers it to be a worthwhile pain med.
It disgusts me that this took place in a deliberate manner as it did. It goes beyond whether or not her brain weighed this or that number of grams, and whether or not she had PVS. It is to me about doing this kind of thing to another human being - deliberately inducing all these sufferings and allowing them to go on until death.
Just an horrific torture... unspeakably cruel and inhumane. Thank you for your medical input. God help us all.
bump for later
As STARWISE said keep up the good work MarMema. Any
on-line sites of yours?
Considering the numerous occasions in which Terri underwent forced dehydration--the first time, then in Oct 2003, and again months ago, ultimately causing her death--isn't it likely that such trauma to the body had some effect on her already fragile condition, specifically to the brain?
How many medical examiners know what a brain looks like after numerous occasions of severe dehydration in a person, particularly when the patient had already lessened brain function?
What is the typical brain weight of person who died from dehydration?
Did the medical examiner take these sorts of questions into account?
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