Pope Benedict XVI Blog

Terri Shiavo had no eating disorder or heart attack: What happened in 70-min. time gap between collapse and 911 call?

Autopsy findings show that Terri Schiavo had no eating disorder or heart attack prior to her collapse. The question now is: What happened within the 70-minute time frame between 4:30 a.m. when Michael Schiavo said Terri collapsed and his 911 call logged in at 5:40 a.m? By the time Emergency Services arrived at 5:52 a.m. Terri had been without treatment for 82 minutes. As Governor Bush says he intends to ask prosecutors to investigate whether Michael waited too long to call for help, hopefully, during their probe some basic questions about Terri's collapse might finally be answered.

BlogsforTerri.com

June 17, 2005

Gov. Bush calls for Schiavo probe

Gov. Jeb Bush, who unsuccessfully tried to keep Terri Schiavo alive, now says that an investigation is needed into what happened the night in 1990 that she collapsed and her heart stopped beating. - Miami Herald

The first piece of information Bush appears to be acting on is the Pinellas county medical examiner Dr. Jon Thogmartin’s conclusion that Terri Schiavo most likely did not suffer from an eating disorder and did not collapse due to a heart attack. His autopsy report includes the following two statements related to these issues:

Thus, the main piece of evidence supporting a diagnosis of Bulimia Nervosa is suspect or, at least, can be explained by her clinical condition at the time of the blood draw.

The common term "heart attack" is generally reserved to describe the medical condition of myocardial infarction. Mrs. Schiavo’s heart was anatomically normal without any area of recent or remote myocardial infarction.Secondly, the Miami Herald reports that Thogmartin told Bush he had gained access to information suggesting that there was a 70-minute delay between when Michael Schiavo first heard a 'bump' in the early morning hours of Feb. 25, 1990 and when he eventually called 911.

The basis for the 70-minute gap is the difference between the time Michael Schiavo's 911 call was logged and public statements he has made regarding the time of Terri's collapse. George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, called Bush's comments "disgusting" and claimed his client dialed 911 immediately.

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posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 7:07 PM