Posted on 06/15/2005 9:18:16 AM PDT by blogblogginaway
LARGO, Fla. -- An autopsy on Terri Schiavo backed her husband's contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state, finding that she had massive and irreversible brain damage and was blind, the medical examiner's office said Wednesday. It also found no evidence that she was strangled or otherwise abused.
But what caused her collapse 15 years remained a mystery. The autopsy and post-mortem investigation found no proof that she had an eating disorder, as was suspected at the time, Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Jon Thogmartin said.
Autopsy results on the 41-year-old brain-damaged woman were made public Wednesday, more than two months after Schiavo's death March 31 ended an internationally watched right-to-die battle between her husband and parents that engulfed the courts, Congress and the White House and divided the country.
Thogmartin also said she did not appear to have suffered a heart attack and there was no evidence that she was given harmful drugs or other substances prior to her death.
She died from dehydration, Thogmartin said.
He said she would not have been able to eat or drink if she had been given food by mouth as her parents' requested.
"Removal of her feeding tube would have resulted in her death whether she was fed or hydrated by mouth or not," Thogmartin told reporters.
He also said she was blind, because the "vision centers of her brain were dead."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
You answer first.
HOWEVER!? Give it up already. Your "however" is a troll worthy of the DU board. Any moron understands that's not the same case as trauma. The surgery, of course, would be done with careful precision and designed to maintain as much function as possible while removing any tissue necessary. Terri's brain had shrunk of half-size because so much of it was dead.
Where's your LINK to evidence of this half-brain girl and her high school graduation, anyway?
Other people believe in the sanctity of marriage until an issue like this comes up. Loving family members pull feeding tubes every day. If I were in that situation, I would want the tube pulled and my wife knew that before we signed the legal documents. My very Southern Baptist mother would want the feeding tube removed if she were ever in that situation. In any case, the person is moving on to a better place, rather than being kept alive by a man-made machine.
One day medical technology will allow us to prolong life indefinitely. Why are some people so selfish that they want to keep their loved ones from God?
I dont favor euthanasia but I do favor the right of families to make these decisions and following the wishes of the person involved. Schiavo's parents admitted in court that they wouldnt remove the tube even if they knew to a certitude that that was Terri's wish. Dont go pulling your absolutish shit on me or my family. Keep your nose on your own business and out of mine.
Some of us got a lot of grief over defending his medically-established view in light of a massive propaganda campaign that went so far as to have Sean Hannity pimping some quack as "Nobel prize nominated" when he wasn't anything of the like.
He won't get an apology from anyone and I doubt any here will admit they were wrong and her family was only furious over his unwillingness to share the settlement with them, sparking their smear campaign.
At least the factual determination is out on Terri's true condition. No balloon tracking in that video (just carefully staged propaganda). No nurses feeding her. All a pile of lies. No Terri waxing eloquently about her desire for food and so forth.
This case showed an ugly irrationality on the part of too many at FR.
"One day medical technology will allow us to prolong life indefinitely. Why are some people so selfish that they want to keep their loved ones from God?"
Please, this is not a flame or a smart*ss reply, just want your opinion. I always figured God was responsible for medical technology. If you take advantage of it, wouldn't that have God's ok? Just wondering, not trying to stir anything.
I agree with you. I've been in that position in the past couple of years and its hard enough without the Randall Terry's of the world sticking their noses in the tent to raise money for their cause. Piss off a few Right to LIfers and fill the till. That is all Terry cares about. Randall Terry cant even manage his own family. Divorce. His kids hate him. I think a couple are gay. The guy should focus on the family.
You don't care if the findings are TRUE? You'd rather believe some racist ex-cop with no connection to firsthand analysis of Terri whatsoever? This is the very definition of a kook.
My nose is not in your business. I don't even know you so you wouldn't need to worry about me. You may need to worry about judges, however.
"Does this seem consistent with the video of Terri following objects with her eyes? I'm not doctor but I gotta wonder."
Terri did not follow objects with her eyes. Watch the video again my friend.
That pimp Hannity is on the radio a few minutes ago claiming that no heart attack is a big deal. If he had ever bothered to deal with the facts of the case and read the Guardian Ad Litem report and other court documents he would have known that no one ever said she had had a heart attack. What a joke. I cant believe he is a spokesman for Conservatism. Well I guess a stopped clock is correct twice a day.
"Fact that she couldnt see should make you wonder whether the apparent tracking of objects was random movment that just happened to coincide with the actual movement. Rembmer, Terri's parents recorded four hours and only had less than a minute of "purposeful" action recorded."
This is true, and if you re-watch the video... honestly.. the guy is following her eyes with the baloon he is holding, not theother way around. Watch the video objectively, and take it in context, it is very obvious that it's an attempt to make something seem like something it's not.
You are right, I am wrong in that regard. Sorry.
Where you are wrong is that the strangulation theory is BS. Strangulation is achieved by compressing soft tissue and doesn't have to leave any bone indications. The fall once unconscious would leave some other non-neck injury that could show on a bone scan.
In any case -- she could have been strnagled. Just how many miles where on the odometer when loving Mike looked at it that night?
Was your Mother in a PVS? I'm sure she wasn't if she "asked" for water.
"Well we do know that Michael owns the County Sherriff so how hard would it be for him to buy the Medical Examiner. The only way I would have trusted the autopsy is if it was done by the FBI...."
The only way you would have trusted the autopsy is if it CAME OUT THE WAY YOU WANTED.
.. and not otherwise.
My mistake, admitted. See above.
Why do you not consider the ME to be independent? He is a state employee who is not answerable to any of the parties in this case.
The same could be said of abortion, stem cells, or any other medical technology. Just because we can doesn't mean we should.
Not really. It shows that the system in Pinellas County works and that corrupt officials are weeded out.
Pinellas County is extremely corrupt and incestuous, that's just the way it is.
Do you have any proof that this ME has in any way been influenced by the parties to this case? He's not a County employee- he is a State employee.
In the flash that I asked the question, I hadn't considered that. Of course, I hadn't thought of abortion as a medical technology either. Thanks.
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