Too Late
At first I was surprised to hear that Michael Schiavo was requesting an autopsy on his wife’s brain; now I think I’m beginning to understand.
George Felos, the attorney for Schiavo’s husband, Michael, has said that a Florida medical examiner has agreed to perform an autopsy after Terri Schiavo dies. Florida courts have ruled that she is in a persistent vegetative state.
That condition is a clinical diagnosis and cannot by confirmed by an autopsy, said Curtis Doberstein, associate professor of clinical neurosurgery at Brown Medical School in Providence. The most important test would be a neurological examination ***BEFORE*** she dies that observes her consciousness, perceptions and reflexes, among other things, he said (emphasis mine).
Above quoted from USA TODAY online article, “Diagnosis will not be verified by autopsy”
by Donna Leinwand. Posted 3/29/2005 10:06 PM. For entire article, click here.