Monday, Jun. 20, 2005
Final Diagnosis?
By Harriet Barovick
Investigators in Largo, Fla., last week disclosed the results of an autopsy of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman who was the subject of a bitter struggle over whether to remove her feeding tube--pitting her husband Michael against her parents, right-to-lifers and members of Congress--before she was allowed to die in March. The autopsy, vindicating Michael, showed her damage was irreversible, she had gone blind, and her brain had shrunk to half its normal size. Case closed, right? Not yet. Though the autopsy quieted even some of Michael's G.O.P. opponents, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who tried to keep Terri alive, said that because of "new information" not addressed in the autopsy, he has requested a probe into whether Michael delayed calling 911 when Terri collapsed in 1990 from still undetermined causes. --By Harriet Barovick