Clearwater, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A local county medical examiner released the result of the autopsy on Terri Schiavo's death on Wednesday. Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Jon Thogmartin said that Terri was clinically brain dead and he ruled out physical abuse being the cause of her collapse in 1990.

Much of Thogmartin's analysis was skeptical as he said too much time had elapsed to positively determine the cause of Terri's 1990 collapse. He indicated he did not think that bulimia played a part, but Terri's diet -- she drank considerable amounts of tea -- may have played a role.

While Terri's estranged husband Michael and the media claim she collapsed because of a potassium imbalance related to the inordinate amount of tea she drank, Terri's family is concerned that Michael may have physically abused her.

However, Thogmartin ruled out physical abuse saying early medical tests taken shortly after her collapse showed no signs of physical trauma.

Thogmartin indicated that Terri was clinically brain dead and added that her brain had atrophied so much that it weighed only half of the weight of a normal human brain.

However, a priest who was with Terri and her brother and sister just before her death, said the autopsy report doesn't change what happened to Terri.

"Her physical injuries and disabilities never made her less of a person. No amount of brain injury ever justifies denying a person proper humane care. That includes food and water," said Father Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life.

“A person with a 'profoundly atrophied' brain needs profound care and love," he said. "Terri did not die from an atrophied brain. She died from an atrophy of compassion on the part of her estranged husband and those who helped him to have her deliberately killed.”

The autopsy also showed that Terri was blind as a result of a deterioration of the "visual center" of her brain.

While Terri's parents and several doctors who have observed Terri say she could have benefited from rehabilitative care, Thogmartin indicated her brain damage was so extensive that it would not have helped.

"This damage was irreversible, and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons" he said.

The finding goes against reports from Terri's family and numerous other visitors who repeatedly said Terri "lights up" when close friends and family would enter her hospice room.

Thogmartin indicated that Terri did not die as a result of starvation, but because of dehydration as a result of 13 days being deprived of food and water. He also said Terri would not likely have been able to eat or drink on her own.

"Removal of her feeding tube would have resulted in her death whether she was fed or hydrated by mouth or not," Thogmartin told reporters.

According to Thogmartin, his autopsy fond "nothing inconsistent" with the determination of the court and doctors for Michael that Terri was in a PVS state.

George Felos, the assisted suicide advocate who is Michael's lead attorney, said he expects the Schindlers to continue to engage in a so-called "smear campaign" against Michael, once the results are released.

"I think everyone who has followed the facts in this case knows there is no substance to those (abuse) charges, and I'm confident we're not going to hear anything differently from the medical examiner," Felos told the Associated Press Tuesday.

Before the results were released, Terri's brother told the press he hoped to find more information on what happened to his sister.

"Our family would really like to know what caused Terri's collapse,'' Bobby Schindler told the Associated Press before the results were unveiled "I don't know what they can and can't find 15 years after the fact. If we could get some of our questions answered as to how Terri ended up the way she did, that would be helpful.''

Attorneys for Michael and the Schindlers received the report hours before it was made public.

The Schindlers hoped to have an independent expert observe the autopsy. They wanted to bring in Dr. Cyril Wecht, the well-known forensic pathologist and coroner of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
Wecht told the Schindlers he would observe an autopsy, but Thogmartin's office refused their request.

Bill Pellan, chief investigator for the medical examiner's office, told AP that Thogmartin reviewed police reports, medical records, and other documents to try to determine the cause of Terri's collapse.

Related web sites:
Terri Schiavo's parents - http://www.terrisfight.org