Well, the autopsy results are in... and perhaps we can close this sorry chapter in a number of ways. Here's a link to the article in the NY Times Online ; you need to register to read it, but there's no charge for registering or afterwards.
Some excerpts from the article:
The medical examiner also dismissed the previous testimony in a 1992 that her original collapse was due to an eating disorder, saying that there were no positive indications that was the case. (The main evidence for an eating disorder was a low potassium reading in her blood post-collapse and post-initial-treatment. The examiner stated that the treatements given to Shiavo post-collapse would also have lowered this reading.) This doesn't dismiss the possiblity that it was an eating disorder (she did lose over 100 lbs since high school), but it opened the door to other possiblities.
Schaivo's parents have been accusing her husband of abuse, but the examiner found no evidence of that, either. (And all reports of abuse made by the parents to state social workers were previously ruled unfounded after investigation.)
So it appears that Terry Schiavo could not have acknowledged her parents, or looked at them and seen them; nor could she have survived without a feeding tube; and in fact, was completely and irreversibly brain-dead all along. It further appears that in their tragic desperation to keep their daughter alive (against wishes expressed by her pre-collapse, apparently) led to massive legal efforts, a smear campaign against an innocent husband, and utter emotional agony on the parts of all parties involved... except, mercifully, Mrs. Shiavo, who was beyond all caring.
I just want to take a moment to thank and acknowledge some other persons who involved themselves in this tragedy - that would be Governer and President Bush. Their interventions in this case prolonged even further the agony of innocents - all for the purpose of furthering the religious/politicial doctrines of the fundamentalist conservatives, so they can count on their support in future elections. Well done, you two.
Some excerpts from the article:
The medical examiner also dismissed the previous testimony in a 1992 that her original collapse was due to an eating disorder, saying that there were no positive indications that was the case. (The main evidence for an eating disorder was a low potassium reading in her blood post-collapse and post-initial-treatment. The examiner stated that the treatements given to Shiavo post-collapse would also have lowered this reading.) This doesn't dismiss the possiblity that it was an eating disorder (she did lose over 100 lbs since high school), but it opened the door to other possiblities.
Schaivo's parents have been accusing her husband of abuse, but the examiner found no evidence of that, either. (And all reports of abuse made by the parents to state social workers were previously ruled unfounded after investigation.)
So it appears that Terry Schiavo could not have acknowledged her parents, or looked at them and seen them; nor could she have survived without a feeding tube; and in fact, was completely and irreversibly brain-dead all along. It further appears that in their tragic desperation to keep their daughter alive (against wishes expressed by her pre-collapse, apparently) led to massive legal efforts, a smear campaign against an innocent husband, and utter emotional agony on the parts of all parties involved... except, mercifully, Mrs. Shiavo, who was beyond all caring.
I just want to take a moment to thank and acknowledge some other persons who involved themselves in this tragedy - that would be Governer and President Bush. Their interventions in this case prolonged even further the agony of innocents - all for the purpose of furthering the religious/politicial doctrines of the fundamentalist conservatives, so they can count on their support in future elections. Well done, you two.
