Rest in Peace

The Terry Schiavo autopsy was released to the public today, and as anyone with half a brain an outlook based in reality would know, it showed she had irreversible brain damage:

"Her brain was profoundly atrophied," Jon Thogmartin, medical examiner for Florida's Pinellas-Pasco County, told a press conference. "There was massive neuronal loss, or death. This was irreversible and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons."

“The brain weighed 615 grams, roughly half of the expected weight of a human brain," he added.

Thogmartin was joined by Dr. Stephen Nelson, who described her condition as "very consistent with a persistent vegetative state," which is what Michael Schiavo and most doctors had contended was the case...

Thogmartin added that Terri Schiavo had been blinded by the injury and that all evidence indicated that she could not have survived without a feeding tube.

“Removal of her feeding tube would have resulted in her death whether she was fed or hydrated by mouth or not,” Thogmartin said.

In addition, the report said no evidence existed that Michael Schiavo tried to hasten his wife's death via drugs or other substances as her parents had alleged.

If you want to view the entire autopsy report, here it is (.pdf).

You've probably seen Atrios' link to Think Progress--Bill Frist's video aided diagnosis turned out to be more a statement on his innate horseshitness.

I doubt the wingnuts will have much to say about the autopsy report itself--with one exception. Being that there was no way to determine the initial cause of Ms. Schiavo's collapse that put her into the state she was in, expect that crowd (who, if they'd been allowed to bring Schaivo the cups of water they paraded on television with, would've killed her)--anyway, look for them to imply criminal behavior by Michael Schiavo--who I then hope sues them for every penny.

Actually, I wish they'd leave him alone, but that probably won't happen.

In the meantime, rest in peace Ms. Schiavo.