*bump*
Terri's autopsy has been released.
Schiavo autopsy finds no sign of trauma
By MITCH STACY
Associated Press Writer
LARGO, Fla. (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 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.
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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."
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Thogmartin said that Schiavo's brain was about half of its expected size when she died 13 days after her feeding tube was removed.
"The brain weighed 615 grams, roughly half of the expected weight of a human brain," he said. "This damage was irreversible, and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons."
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The rest can be found at the link above. Editing and emphasis mine.
Hybrid Mode
