Schiavo Autopsy Released
By Rob on Default
Say Anything
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LARGO, Florida (AP) — 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 earlier 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 her death March 31 ended a right-to-die battle between her husband and parents that engulfed the courts, Congress and the White House and divided the country.
She died from dehydration, Thogmartin said. He 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.
He said that after her feeding tube was removed, 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.
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That should put to rest some of the more off-the-wall theories surrounding the Schiavo matter. Those who accused Michael Schiavo of abusing Terri should probably apologize.
It doesn’t do a thing to alleviate my two biggest problems with the matter, however.
To me, her brain capacity was never an issue. The fact of the matter was that, outside of needing food and water, her body was still living. In the absence of any sort of definitive answer as to her wishes for the situation she found herself in I could not support her death. Unfortunately, in the absence of a definitive answer for a situation like that, this country allows for its courts to make the decision instead. The courts in Florida ruled that she should die as it was in their authority to do so.
I agree with allowing the courts to rule in situations where the body is being kept alive by life support, but that wasn’t the case with Terri Schiavo. Unless you consider food and water life support. I don’t.
My other problem with this was the way she was allowed to die. When the court made the decision to let her die she should have been given a massive dose of morphine to ease her into the here-after. Instead, she was allowed to dehydrate over the course of several days. Nobody should be forced to go through that regardless of how brain-damaged they are.
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