Reply #90: Schiavo Autopsy Will Not Confirm Diagnosis [View All]

[Roland99]

http://www.medpagetoday.com//tbindex2.cfm?tbid=789

PINELLAS PARK, Fla, March 29-Neurologists say the autopsy that is to be performed on Terri Schiavo after she dies will not definitively confirm a diagnosis of persistent vegetative state.

"Persistent vegetative state or minimally conscious state is a clinical diagnosis," says Michael De Georgia, MD, head of the neurology/neurosurgery intensive care unit at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. "It cannot be confirmed by autopsy."

Patients in a persistent vegetative state are a subgroup who suffer severe anoxic brain injury and progress to a state of wakefulness without awareness.

Michael Schiavo, husband and guardian of Terri Schiavo, and Mary and Bob Schindler, Ms. Schiavo's parents, have been engaged in a contentious public and legal dispute over the decision to remove Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube, but: both want an autopsy and both say the post-mortem exam will provide evidence to finally nail down Ms. Schiavo's diagnosis.