Autopsy May Shed Light Schiavo Case
news.yahoo.com
By The Associated Press
The lawyer for Terri Schiavo's husband, Michael, has said the chief medical examiner for Pinellas County, Fla., where she died has agreed to perform an autopsy. It could take several weeks to complete, the medical examiner said, and will include a thorough examination by a board-certified neuropathologist, as well as routine forensic procedures and X-rays.
That could shed light on two questions that have been publicly raised:
_Was Terri Schiavo's diagnosis of "persistent vegetative state" correct? Her husband hopes it will offer definitive proof of that diagnosis.
Such a finding is mostly made by observing someone's behavior. However, experts say a brain autopsy could help support such a diagnosis by showing patterns of brain damage consistent with a persistent vegetative state.
"If there's very extensive brain injury, it would be hard to accept another diagnosis as being conceivable," said Dr. Roger Albin, a neurology professor and director of the brain bank at the University of Michigan Medical School.
_Was she physically abused, as her family suggested and her husband has repeatedly denied?
An autopsy can detect whether bones have broken and healed, even many years ago. It can't determine when the injury occurred. But comparisons with X-rays from previous dates could help get a fix on that |
