Thank you. Besides our own 3 other children (all now young adults), we have been delighted to follow the lives of the 5 (of 8) surviving children (also now young adults) who received our son's organs. It was his gift, not ours.
But you did say he had an electrolyte imbalance that caused his death. For that I'm sorry but that doesn't apply to Terri as she was given drugs to jump start her heart that would have caused an imbalance. In her case, it couldn't be shown to be the cause because of the administered drugs.
Our son was also given drugs (IVs and direct injections) to "jump start" his heart, and, like Terri Schiavo, was worked over by dedicated EMTs and ER personnel for, quite literally, several hours prior to stabilization. His autopsy (again, performed within 72 hours of his cardiac arrest, not 15+ years later) took into account those resuscitation efforts.
I don't compare our son to Terri Schiavo...they are both individuals who deserve their separate lives and their separate deaths. The question was whether or not a young person would/could suffer an (ultimately fatal) cardiac arrest. In our son's case, the answer is yes. Following his death, we discovered that, in fact, unexplained cardiac arrest resulting in death was not all that uncommon among both young and older persons.
And you are absolutely correct that neither Terri Schiavo's autopsy, nor her initial hospital admission records (considering the extraordinary life-saving measures taken), could definitively confirm the presence, nor the absence, of an electrolyte imbalance (or a drug interaction/overdose, or an issue related to bulimic binging/purging) which might have been a "cause" of her original cardiac arrest. The only thing that the autopsy results ruled out--absolutely--as a cause of that original collapse (and only because of the extensive examinations and imaging undergone by Terri Schiavo within the first 72 hours following her cardiac arrest) was abuse. It is completely understandable that, at the time of her initial collapse, the treating EMTs, and then the hospital ER, as well as both her parents and husband, set a priority on saving Terri's life, not preserving her original and untainted blood chemistry for potential diagnosis and ultimate autopsy. That seems entirely appropriate to me.
Actually, it didn't. There are all kinds of abuse. They don't all result in broken bones.
I have to go to bed. I hope to talk to you again. Have a lovely evening.
I'm sorry for the loss of your son, and I appreciate you weighing in with your personal experience.