Terri Schiavo — Autopsy

The autopsy of Terri Schiavo was released today, June 15, 2005. 

Here are some of the key findings:

• Terri’s brain weighed less than 1/2 of a normal brain.
• No amount of therapy could have caused regrowth of the missing brain tissue; the damage was irreversible.
• Terri’s condition was consistent with that of a person in a persistent vegetative state.
• Terri died of dehydration (not starvation).
• Terri did not have a heart attack.
• Terri did not receive drugs to hasten her death.

See Timothy Williams, Schiavo’s Brain Was Severely Deteriorated, Autopsy Says, N.Y. Times (June 15, 2005) (discussing autopsy and news conference).