Topic awaiting preservation: Schiavo Autopsy Shows Massive Brain Damage (Page 1 of 1)

Schiavo Autopsy Shows Massive Brain Damage

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The autopsy of Terri Schiavo backed her husband's contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state, finding she was severely and irreversibly brain-damaged and blind as well. The report, released Wednesday, also found no evidence that she was strangled or otherwise abused before she collapsed.

Courts repeatedly rejected extraordinary attempts at intervention by Florida lawmakers, Gov. Jeb Bush, Congress and the president on behalf of her parents.

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."

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Severe brain damage.

The courts were right in this case.

(Edited by WebShaman on 06-16-2005 07:00)

Told ya so!

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
Isaac Asimov
US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)

I have told my father that if I end up in a persistent vegetative state, I want to be unplugged. He feels the same way anyway, but I suggested that if anybody were to fight against my wasting body being humanely released, then it shouldn't be my own parents!

I read that her parents knew of her wishes, and yet they still prolonged that pointless fight. From the evidence that has been presented (even before the post-mortem) it was pretty obvious that this poor woman either stood no chance of survival, or faced the possibility of horrendous disabilities if she ever partially recovered.

What sort of sicko would wish that upon their own child?

However, I hope that these results can help to put their minds at rest that their daughter was not needlessly allowed to die.

According to media reports, they are still in denial, claiming she "...might have, somehow, miraculously, recovered".

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
Isaac Asimov
US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)

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I read that her parents knew of her wishes, and yet they still prolonged that pointless fight.

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This is false. There are interviews with the parents and numerous articles, not to mention their website, where they state the exact opposite.

Forgive me for being skeptical of the state mandated and coordinated autopsy. I suppose those are ok when you have an inclination to believe them, but I just don't buy it. The parents should have pushed in court for an independent autopsy, but they didn't.

There are a couple of things which specifically make me apprehensive, and one is that they said she was blind. I do not believe this was possible as there were a couple of videos which were floating around the net which showed her eyes following subjects, one of them was a video where she was following a balloon with her eyes for an extended period. If she were blind, how is that possible? Severe dehydration on the other hand has been shown to cause marked blindness, this of course was not mentioned in the report.

As far as the brain mass shrinkage, severe dehydration can account for that as well and has been documented in many cases. The average adult body is about 65-75 percent water, so is this really a surprise? Also, those who suffer from eating disorders such as anorexia have been shown to have had brain shrinkage of up to 25%.

This type of damage could have been seen pre-execution, if it existed at that time, through an MRI, but alas that was not allowed by the executioners.

You are all being duped by your support of euthanasia and strange love for the courts, an arm of a grossly corrupt government.

And the main question of the debate had not been answered: Can we, should we, simply throw disabled people away? Can/should the courts mandate this from the heresay of an estranged husband? Should the courts take precendence over our families when it comes to making these decisions when there is no living will?

I say no. There are more than two sides to this debate and just because certain lawmakers were on one side simply for political gain does not make the other side infallable.

This 'report' is a crock of dung and leaves more unanswered questions than it was supposed to answer, IMHO of course.


Ramasax

And in case you missed it. The florida bush was/is considering ordering police to go back to the original 911 tapes and check the timeline. Objective: Determine if it perhaps took the husband too long from the time he said he found his wife... and when he called 911.

If old brother jeb there is thinking about another term in a state heavy with oldies he'd best be burying the don't pull the plug bunch.

Come to think.... I don't recall any oldies saying.... don't do it.