Final word?
So Schiavo's autopsy is out, and it shows pretty much exactly what I had expected, except that an eating disorder may not have been responsible for her collapse (the ME "could not definitively say what caused the collapse", although he doubted the eating disorder diagnosis). Let's review, shall we?
At the time of her death, Terri Schiavo:
1. Had a brain half the size of a healthy, functioning brain
2. "This damage was irreversible, and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons" (to quote the ME)
3. Was blind - because the "vision centres of her brain were dead" (so all that visual tracking stuff was, indeed, crap)
4. Was, in the ME's opinion, in a persistent vegitative state, which mean: "She was incapable of surviving without her feeding tube, Mr Throgmartin said, adding that she was blind and incapable of thinking, feeling or interacting with her environment" (emphasis mine)
5. Was absolutely dependant on the feeding tube: "Removal of her feeding tube would have resulted in her death whether she was fed or hydrated by mouth or not"
I am sure this won't stop the poor woman from being a rallying point for non-reality-based nutjobs for years and decades to come, but to anyone paying attention this hopefully puts the matter to rest (no pun intended).
Some quotes in this post were taken from the CBC and BBC stories in addition to the one linked above.
At the time of her death, Terri Schiavo:
1. Had a brain half the size of a healthy, functioning brain
2. "This damage was irreversible, and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons" (to quote the ME)
3. Was blind - because the "vision centres of her brain were dead" (so all that visual tracking stuff was, indeed, crap)
4. Was, in the ME's opinion, in a persistent vegitative state, which mean: "She was incapable of surviving without her feeding tube, Mr Throgmartin said, adding that she was blind and incapable of thinking, feeling or interacting with her environment" (emphasis mine)
5. Was absolutely dependant on the feeding tube: "Removal of her feeding tube would have resulted in her death whether she was fed or hydrated by mouth or not"
I am sure this won't stop the poor woman from being a rallying point for non-reality-based nutjobs for years and decades to come, but to anyone paying attention this hopefully puts the matter to rest (no pun intended).
Some quotes in this post were taken from the CBC and BBC stories in addition to the one linked above.
