Topic: Terry Schiavo News

[ssj4gogita4]

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LARGO, Fla. - An autopsy that found     Terri Schiavo suffered from severe and irreversible brain-damage has done nothing to sway her parents' position that she deserved to live and may have gotten better with therapy.

The long-awaited report Wednesday found Schiavo's brain had shrunk to about half the normal size for a woman her age when she died March 31 after her feeding tube was disconnected. The autopsy also determined she was blind.

Bob and Mary Schindler disputed the results, insisting their daughter interacted with them and tried to speak. Their attorney said the family plans to discuss the autopsy with other medical experts and may take some unspecified legal action.

"We knew all along that Terri was profoundly brain damaged," said Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler. "We simply wanted to bring her home and care for her. It all goes back to this quality of life."

The findings vindicated Schiavo's husband in his long and vitriolic battle with his in-laws that engulfed the courts, Congress and the White House and divided the country. Michael Schiavo and court-appointed doctors have said she had no hope of recovery. She died at age 41.

The autopsy also found no evidence that Terri Schiavo was strangled or otherwise abused before her sudden 1990 collapse — countering allegations by the Schindlers that she was abused by her husband.

Yet medical examiners could not say for certain what caused the collapse, long thought to have been brought on by an eating disorder.

George Felos, attorney for Michael Schiavo, said the findings back up their contentions made "for years and years" that Terri Schiavo had no hope of recovery. He said Michael Schiavo plans to release autopsy photographs of her shrunken brain.

The autopsy counters a widely seen videotape the Schindlers released of Schiavo in her hospice bed. The video showed Schiavo appearing to turn toward her mother's voice and smile. She moaned and laughed. Her head moved up and down and she seemed to follow the progress of a brightly colored Mickey Mouse balloon.

Schiavo's parents said that showed she was aware of her surroundings, but doctors said her reactions were automatic responses and not evidence of thought or consciousness.

"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 neurological portion of the autopsy.

The cause of death was dehydration from removal of the feeding tube, but the underlying reason for her brain damage was officially listed as "undetermined."

The autopsy included 274 external and internal body images and an exhaustive review of Schiavo's medical records, police reports and social services agency records.

While she had lost more than 100 pounds since high school, Schiavo never confessed to an eating disorder, she did not take diet pills and no one had witnessed her purging food, the medical examiner said.

He discounted the possibility that she had overdosed on caffeine from drinking large amounts of tea in an effort to keep her weight down.

In addition, the autopsy found no traces of morphine in her system at her death, although she had been given two doses in the days before she died. The Schindlers had contended that morphine might have been used to speed their daughter's death.

In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the autopsy did nothing to change     President Bush's position that Schiavo's feeding tube should not have been disconnected. He had signed a bill, rushed through by Congress in March, that was a last-ditch effort to restore her feeding tube.

Experts said that the autopsy demonstrates how difficult it is for people to recover from severe brain damage.

"People should understand that sometimes, for known or unknown reasons, individuals sustain massive brain injury that for which healing is not possible," said Dr. Karen Weidenheim, the chief of neuropathology at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. "Everything that could have been done was done for this lady for 15 years, and this case is very tragic."

[DiE HaRrD PuNk]

wow, michael shivo is a monster. he did everything he could to make her parents unhappy. i feel bad for terry, she shouldnt of had to die

[Hannahbal]

Why are we still talking about this? The vegetable is dead.

[ssj4gogita4]

Why are we still talking about this? The vegetable is dead.

[snapback]192725[/snapback]

Ouch. Well, this is just about what they plan on doing now. Before this, they had very little to talk about.

[DiE HaRrD PuNk]

wow, that was rude..... im a little offended by that...... that was very RUDE now that i come to think of it

[Dragon Of Grief]

This went way to far. It should have stayed a private matter.

Why are we still talking about this? The vegetable is dead.

[snapback]192725[/snapback]

Can I hear a "ZZZZZZIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!" :tongue:

wow, that was rude..... im a little offended by that...... that was very RUDE now that i come to think of it

[snapback]192804[/snapback]

How are you offended by that? How did her calling Terry Schiavo a vegetable affect you at all? Was she a cousin or something of yours?

[Rocko]

I knew she was in a PVS, and  she always would be. She would have never recovered and should of been taken out of life support years ago.

[Dragon Of Grief]

Well, I think she should have been put out in a less painful way... I definately agree she no longer should have lived but the way they did it disgusted me more then anything.

[Rocko]

Well, I think she should have been put out in a less painful way... I definately agree she no longer should have lived but the way they did it disgusted me more then anything.

[snapback]192932[/snapback]

What do you want her to be poisened? She didn't feel a thing. She was brain dead.

[Kenny Blankenship]

Oy vey... I'll never understand how this became such an enormous story...

Moving this to Debate Den as well, since it will more than likely turn into a debate den topic...

[Dragon Of Grief]

Well, I think she should have been put out in a less painful way... I definately agree she no longer should have lived but the way they did it disgusted me more then anything.

[snapback]192932[/snapback]

What do you want her to be poisened? She didn't feel a thing. She was brain dead.

[snapback]192934[/snapback]

She felt pain. She felt thirst, and hunger. They starved and emaciated her to death for crying out loud. That's a terrible way to go... she could feel pain. Just because she was braindead didn't mean she couldn't feel pain. She just couldn't think for herself anymore... she could still feel pain. The poor girl was crying before she became so dehydrated form the pain.

[Rocko]

Well, I think she should have been put out in a less painful way... I definately agree she no longer should have lived but the way they did it disgusted me more then anything.

[snapback]192932[/snapback]

What do you want her to be poisened? She didn't feel a thing. She was brain dead.

[snapback]192934[/snapback]

She felt pain. She felt thirst, and hunger. They starved and emaciated her to death for crying out loud. That's a terrible way to go... she could feel pain. Just because she was braindead didn't mean she couldn't feel pain. She just couldn't think for herself anymore... she could still feel pain. The poor girl was crying before she became so dehydrated form the pain.

[snapback]192945[/snapback]

But my question was how do you think she should of died?

[Jackie-Boy]

I have my thoughts on this. I feel that she should have died. The fact is that she lost what made her a person. If you people truly believe in souls, wouldn't it have made more sense to let hers go and fly around instead of being cooped up in the smelly old body?

[T-Mac]

Well that's sad. Some people here in the Philippines don't like America because of Terri. About 80% of our population wanted her alive and well with the tube.

[Eva:Gina]

Well, I think she should have been put out in a less painful way... I definately agree she no longer should have lived but the way they did it disgusted me more then anything.

[snapback]192932[/snapback]

What do you want her to be poisened? She didn't feel a thing. She was brain dead.

[snapback]192934[/snapback]

you know that when they starve you to death, its really really painfull right??
she might have been able to still feel pain, even if she coulnt establish where it was comthing from or why or anything.
you dry up and your bowles rip cos there is no lubrication.

not pretty, at all.
i dont see why they couldnt have jsut given her a morphine overdose, thousands of peopl are put of out of their misery each year like htat, they just claim it was an accidnet.