Schiavo Autopsy Finds No Sign of Trauma

Washingtonpost.com ^ | June 13, 2005 | MITCH STACY

[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."

[bvw]

Legal? So was Buchenwald.

At a more fundamental understandiing of law -- at an inalienable level of Law, to use the founding father's term in an highly appropriate context -- it was illegal. It was murder.

[bvw]

Here I answer to what you'd honor a muderer with -- that for a period before the plot commenced he kept his victim well, at a higher standard. No.

That is not evident from the supports you provided. The electical neuro-stimulator (still there at her death according to autopsy) is evidence of an extra, but not extraordinary care. Mike, iirc from some news backgrounders, likes gadgets and may be a soft touch for a geeky salesman's pitch. Not so much care that would be, but speaks to impulse and "trying someting shiny and new".

Baubles and beads! Nice house and cars he and his concubine share, eh? Consistent to my theory.

And so too the expensive makeup. Not just normal makeup, but expensive makeup. Locked up it was, Mike kept the key, so a nurse or aide has testified. His press-ss-ciousss.

The decorated Terri.

"Meticulous for years". That is a rub. Impulse and meticulousness not normally associated. Yet they can be in some personality types -- the obsessive compulsive can be impulsive to wipe off the blood spot, and I've known some who are obsessive about some things yet impulsive and wild in others -- compartmentalizers. Folks who are spotless and clean, straight-arrows in one environment, yet wild, or super-wastrels, or violent in others.

[Little_shoe]

I have also looked at the autopsy report, and basically all it said was what were the different reasons for her collapse, it didnt attach any xrays or anything..

As for the reports that you are mentioned they are just reports which were written years ago (the oldest being 1982 and the newest 2001), which the author is using to justify his case just like an any research paper. He is not going to put something that is going to contradict his beliefs in there.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0615051terri1.html

[greccogirl]

Oh well gee that breaks my heart.

She finally passed away last June 18th peacefully in her sleep. I always fought the PVS thing, and she was also called "dementia" and "irreversable alzheimer's".
What a joke. I remember in the beginning of it (four years ago) the doctor said she wouldn't live two days. Within months she had fallen down to 86 lbs and she was 5'7" tall and looked like a concentration camp survivor. She didn't communicate at all - and her tongue moved in and out of her mouth so she could not speak.

We knew she was in there though - and had the feeding tube put in. She battled back to 138 or so lbs from 86 and held her first grandchild in her lap. By that time she could speak again although it was very hard to understand her.

If I had a buck for everytime the doctors wanted us to "pull the feeding tube" on my Mom, I'd have enough for a very expensive dinner.

She never regained bladder control, but if you put her ON the john, she could go. She was also almost blind. She fought for her life like a tiger and I wasn't going to help her along.

The last two weeks she was sleeping a lot, no fever, nothing, and she passed peacefully during a nap.

[greccogirl]

I have never said that I suspected Mr. Schavio of anything, without proof.

However now that we have the autopsy report, we definitely know that the "bulimia" story is a crock of crap. NO SIGN of an eating disorder whatsoever.

I wonder if Mr. Schavio will return the $1 he got out of her doctors unjustly. Or even apologize.

[Terriergal]

The best thing to come out of this whole media circus, is to push people towards making sure their affairs are in order, so there is no question of what they wanted if something happens.

You've got THAT right! Hear, hear.

t'aint that easy.

Living Wills have also been used to deny care to people.
Are you being targeted for euthanasia? (Schiavo case only the tip of the iceberg)

[Cboldt]

Living Wills have also been used to deny care to people.

That is their general function, to counter what used to be nearly unanimous bias in favor of life on the parts of the medical and legal communities. The default used to be to provide care (i.e., "patient's best interest is to live").

Those biases are changing too.

[Terriergal]

But I'm talking about people who aren't dying.

[Cboldt]

But I'm talking about people who aren't dying.

I was too.