Chicago, Ill., Jun 26, 2005 / 22:00 pm
A neurology expert has discredited several aspects of Terri Schiavo’s autopsy report, released earlier this month, saying that the main cause of death listed in the report is inaccurate.
Dr. Thomas Zabiega, MD, has said the medical examiners’ claims that Schiavo died from anoxic-ischemic encephalopathy are wrong.
“She died of starvation and dehydration, plain and simple, although many of the ischemic and anoxic changes may have resulted from the chemical abnormalities caused by the starvation and dehydration,” he wrote.
The 41-year-old physically disabled and brain-damaged Florida woman died March 31, almost two weeks after her feeding tube was removed. She had fallen into this state after she suffered a heart attack in 1990 that left her without oxygen to her brain for several minutes. Her husband won a years-long court battle to remove her feeding tube, sparking an international right-to-life debate in the process.