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Michael Schiavo’s Autopsy “Request”
Various news outlets are reporting on Michael Schiavo’s request of an autopsy on Terri’s body.
What it seems they have missed is that when a body is to be cremated, an autospy is required.
I had posted much more extensively on this, but it got lost in technical glitches, but the bottom line is that the mission statement of the medical examiner is to determine cause of death - and I don’t think it takes a lot of digging to figure that one out if Terri dies from starvation.
The real questions surround whether they will do bone scans and other tests for signs of past abuse or trauma. If not, then the whole autopsy thing is a sham.
“Claims have been made by, I guess, opponents of carrying out her wishes that there was some motive behind the cremation of Mrs. Schiavo [and] we felt it was necessary to make [the autopsy] announcement today,” attorney George Felos told reporters on Monday.
They HAVE to do the autopsy. It is the law (see 406.11 (1) (c)). Why would they say this like they are making some sort of generous effort?
More.
Asked whether the autopsy would include a body scan to check for broken bones, Felos said he did not know.
“We assume and are confident that [Pinellas County Medical Examiner Jon Thogmartin] will do an excellent, appropriate job,” he said.
A March 1991 bone scan performed on Mrs. Schiavo showed evidence of “compression fractures” to her back, ribs, legs and ankles. Prior to being found unconscious in her St. Petersburg apartment the year before, Schiavo had not broken any bones, her friends say.
UPDATE: Looks like others are picking this up.
Hyscience
The Narrow
Curiouser & Curiouser
http://myopiczeal.blogsome.com/2005/03/31/michael-schiavos-autopsy-request/trackback/
The only problem with an autopsy is, who will perform it? If it’s done by the same corrupt friend of Greer coroner, the results will be falsified and the truth will be destroyed forever.
An absolute travesty and America falls to a new low.
Gary
Comment by Gary — March 31, 2005 @ 12:00 pm
The single consistent feature of right-wing commentary on this case, which is more than anything responsible for the hysteria and bad feeling that has grown up around the case, is ignorance. The (knowing and unknowing) dissemination of falsehood about virtually every aspect of this otherwise fairly unremarkable case is the sole reason any controversy exists over it. Your claim about autopsies is just one more example.
No autopsy is required. What is required is that the county medical examiner “determine the cause of death”; for that purpose, the ME must “make or have performed such examinations, investigations, and autopsies as he or she shall deem necessary“. For an attended death of a patient undergoing terminal withdrawal of life support in a hospice, no ME would deem an autopsy “necessary.” The ME is perfectly empowered to simply examine the record of the case and sign off on the death certificate. The ME may demand an autopsy if they “deem it necessary,” but they are not required to perform one. (The only case in which one is positively required by the law you cite is if the state’s attorney insists on it).
The relevant text of the law you cite above is this:
“In any of the following circumstances involving the death of a human being, the medical examiner of the district in which the death occurred or the body was found shall determine the cause of death and shall, for that purpose, make or have performed such examinations, investigations, and autopsies as he or she shall deem necessary or as shall be requested by the state attorney: [list of specified circumstances follows, including a planned cremation].”
As should be obvious, the statute only requires the ME to determine the cause of death; it empowers the ME to peform an autopsy if necessary for that purpose, but does not require one. (That would swamp every ME in the state with an unmanageable flow of non-controversial deaths.) The ME in the Schiavo case is not required to perform an autopsy and probably was not planning to do so, but Michael Schiavo requested one and the ME agreed to do it. Your assertion to the contrary is false.
Comment by Kevin T. Keith — March 31, 2005 @ 3:44 pm
I am embarrassed to admit I posted without the full facts. (If you want to accuse me of “ignorance,” I am at least somewhat guilty.)
There are now stories in the news that the Pinellas County ME has decided independently to perform an autopsy on his own initiative, not just in response to Michael Schiavo’s request. As noted above, he has that authority (though not an absolute responsibility to do so). So the autopsy in this case would have proceeded whether or not Michael Schiavo requested one, but it is still true that (a) it is not mandatory, and (b) Michael Schiavo did request it.
MZ adds: Kevin, you make an excellent point. Not being an expert in determing cause of death, I read the statute and assumed that the autopsy was the way one would go about determining the cause of death. If there are other ways to do so, I was not aware of them. But in either event, thanks for the clarification here.
Comment by Kevin T. Keith — March 31, 2005 @ 4:01 pm
My mom died in Florida and there was no autopsy performed. She was cremated.
Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine
The Statute 406.11 says in part:
(1) In any of the following circumstances involving the death of a human being, the medical examiner of the district in which the death occurred or the body was found shall determine the cause of death and shall, for that purpose, make or have performed such examinations, investigations, and autopsies as he or she shall deem necessary or as shall be requested by the state attorney:
Note the bolded area - “as he or she shall deem necessary”
That doesn’t say it is required.
Comment by Sean — March 31, 2005 @ 10:58 pm
I read today that the Schindler’s lawyers requested that a Medical Examiner by the name of Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, sit in on the autopsy and that request was denied by the Pinellas County Examiner. Does this make any sense? I don’t trust Michael Schiavo, his attorney, Felos or Judge Greer. It just makes me wonder what is going on here, and because the injustices in this case are so overwhelming, I’m concerned that they will go unpunished.
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