Schiavo autopsy backs husband

LARGO, Fla. — Her brain half the size of a normal brain, Terri Schiavo was blind and in a persistent vegetative state from which she could not recover, medical examiners said Wednesday.

For her husband, Michael, the 38-page autopsy report was a vindication. For her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who fervently believed that their daughter could see and respond to them, the report did not shake that belief.

The report also showed that the 41-year old woman had never been abused or strangled — apparently refuting allegations by Schindler supporters that Michael had abused Terri. And medical examiners said they could find no evidence of an eating disorder or drug abuse, which some believed may have caused her to collapse 15 years ago.

While the unflinching science of the report concurs with the medical diagnosis of her condition before she died, indicating that she was never aware of her surroundings or the national debate her plight stirred, it hasn't ended the debate.

"No details of this autopsy change the moral evaluation of what happened to Terri. Her physical injuries and disabilities never made her less of a person. No amount of brain injury ever justifies denying a person proper humane care," said Father Frank Pavone, one of the Catholic priests who supported her parents in their vigil outside the hospice where she died.

But Michael Schiavo was "pleased" that the autopsy results proved what he had been saying all along, and he plans to release autopsy photos of his wife's brain, said his attorney, George Felos, who would not say how or to whom they will be released.

"He feels it is extremely important for everyone to see what is apparent from these photographs," Felos said.

Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Dr. Jon Thogmartin said he and his medical team had concluded that nothing was done to physically harm Schiavo, but he regretted they had not been able to determine what caused her to collapse in the first place.

They found no conclusive evidence, he said, of why a woman everyone believed was healthy suddenly collapsed with a failing heart, starving her brain of oxygen and blood.

"This damage was irreversible, and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons," said Thogmartin.