Schiavo autopsy finds damage was irreversible
CTV.ca News Staff
An autopsy of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman who became the symbol for the right-to-die battle, could not have been rehabilitated, the Florida medical examiner's office said Wednesday.
Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Jon Thogmartin said his autopsy showed Schiavo's brain, at the time of death, was about half the weight of a normal brain, backing her husband's contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state.
"This damage was irreversible, and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons," Thogmartin told reporters.
Schiavo, 41, died on March 31, after her husband, Michael, successfully won a legal bid to have her feeding tube removed.
But many questions about her life remained.
Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, fought to keep their daughter alive, saying she could have been rehabilitated. They also claimed she was responsive to them. However, Thogmartin said that at the time of her death, she was blind.
The Schindlers also alleged that their daughter suffered abuse at the hands of husband Michael Schiavo -- a claim he has always denied.
Today, Thogmartin said there was no evidence of strangulation at the time of her collapse in 1990, and fractures to her spine were consistent with osteoporosis, common in paralysis patients. He said her bones were "palpably soft."
As for what caused Schiavo to collapse at the age of 26, leading to her vegetative state, Thogmartin said his results did not support the initial diagnosis of an eating disorder.
Previously, doctors had suggested that Schiavo suffered a severe chemical imbalance and heart attack as the result of bulimia nervosa.
Thogmartin said her heart was normal, and could not definitively say what caused the collapse. He suggested that caffeine may have been a factor. Schiavo is believed to have had about 1 gram of tea a day.
However, he said the collapse happened in the morning, making caffeine toxicity unlikely.
As for her official cause of death, Thogmartin said she suffered severe dehydration, and did not starve to death.
He also said that Schiavo would not have been able to live without a feeding tube, and that trying to eat or drink orally would have resulted in aspiration.
"Removal of her feeding tube would have resulted in her death whether she was fed or hydrated by mouth or not,'' Thogmartin said.
Michael Schiavo always maintained that Terri had previously told him she didn't want to be kept alive artificially. However, Schiavo left no living will, and her family said they didn't believe she would make such comments.
The long battle between Schiavo's parents and her husband reached the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congress, the Vatican and the White House. The case also made headlines around the world.
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Originally Posted by Bev Heishman
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