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Schiavo autopsy shows no sign of trauma, brain half normal size
By Staff and Wire Reports
Published June 15, 2005
LARGO -- An autopsy released today found no evidence to contradict the
diagnosis that Terri Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state after her 1990 collapse,
backing up her husband's contention that she would not have recovered if she was given
additional therapy as her parents requested.
"There's nothing in her autopsy report that is inconsistent with a persistent vegetative
state,'' said Dr. Stephen J. Nelson, a medical examiner who assisted in the autopsy.
Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Dr. Jon Thogmartin, who led the autopsy team, concluded
that there was no evidence of strangulation or other trauma leading to her collapse, rebutting
allegations that her husband, Michael Schiavo, abused her.
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.
The doctor said that Terri Schiavo's brain was about half of its expected size when she
died March 31 in a Pinellas Park hospice, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed in a
wrenching right-to-die dispute that engulfed the courts, Congress and the White House and
divided the country.
He said the 41-year-old woman would not have been able to eat or drink if she had been
given food by mouth as her parents' wanted.
""Removal of her feeding tube would have resulted in her death whether she was fed or
hydrated by mouth or not,'' Thogmartin told reporters.
Thogmartin also said that the autopsy, including 274 external and internal body images, and
an exhaustive review of Terri Schiavo's past medical records, police reports and social
services agency records produced no conclusion on what triggered the collapse that caused her
severe brain damage, including whether she suffered from an eating disorder.
He said that Schiavo was blind and that ""no amount of therapy or treatment would have
regenerated the massive loss of nerves.''
Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, fought their son-in-law in court over their
daughter's fate for nearly seven years, battling to the end with conservative lawmakers and
anti-abortion activists at their side.
Michael Schiavo said his wife never would have wanted to be kept alive in what
court-appointed doctors concluded was a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.
The Schindlers, however, doubted she had any such end-of-life wishes and disputed that she was
in a vegetative state.
They contended she laughed, cried and responded to them when they visited her in the hospice where she lived. They believed her condition could improve with therapy,
despite most doctors saying her condition was irreversible.
Her death ended what was easily the longest, most bitter -- and most heavily litigated --
right-to-die dispute in U.S. history.
Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 after a chemical imbalance caused her heart to
stop. She had left no written instructions in the event she became disabled.
During the seven-year legal battle, federal and state courts repeatedly rejected
extraordinary attempts at intervention by Florida lawmakers, Gov. Jeb Bush, Congress and
President Bush on behalf of her parents.
Supporters of her parents harshly criticized the courts. Many religious groups, including
the Roman Catholic Church, said the removal of sustenance violated fundamental religious
tenets.
About 40 judges in six courts were involved in the case at one point or another. Six times,
the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene. But an initial court
ruling by Pinellas County Judge George Greer in
Michael Schindler?s favor was never overturned. As Schiavo's life ebbed away, Congress rushed
through a bill to allow the federal courts to take up the case, and President Bush signed it
March 21. But the federal courts refused to step in.
Over the years, the Schindlers have sought independent investigation of their daughter's
condition and what caused it. Abuse complaints to state social workers were ruled unfounded
and the Pinellas state attorney's office did not turn up evidence of abuse.
[Last modified June 15, 2005, 12:29:25]
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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