To Clear Doubts, Schiavo Autopsy Planned

DUNEDIN, Fla. —  Wanting to offer definitive proof about the extent of Terri Schiavo’s brain injuries, her husband has arranged to have an autopsy performed, his lawyer said Monday.

“This is something that we have contemplated for a few days,” said George J. Felos, Michael Schiavo’s lawyer.

“We didn’t feel it was appropriate to talk about an autopsy prior to Mrs. Schiavo’s death,” Felos said. But persistent rumors that Michael Schiavo was trying to hide something by planning to have his wife cremated led him to make the announcement, Felos said.

As Terri Schiavo entered the 11th day since her feeding tube was removed, her father described her as weak and emaciated but “fighting like hell to live.” Bob Schindler said it was not too late to save his daughter.

In Washington, supporters of the Schindlers carried their fight once again to the White House and Congress.

The 41-year-old woman’s feeding tube was disconnected by order of a state judge, who agreed with Michael Schiavo that his wife did not wish to be kept alive through artificial means. She can breathe on her own but cannot eat or drink. Doctors have testified that she is in a persistent vegetative state, with catastrophic brain injuries and no chance for improvement.

Bob and Mary Schindler contend their that daughter could get better with therapy.

When he hugged and kissed Schiavo on Monday, Bob Schindler said during a news conference outside the hospice in Pinellas Park. Fla., where she is being cared for, she responded with facial expressions. “Don’t give up on her,” Schindler said. “We haven’t given up on her, and she hasn’t given up on us.”

Some of those fighting to keep Schiavo alive have alleged that her husband wanted to have her cremated to destroy evidence of abuse, including broken bones.

Felos said Dr. John Thogmartin, chief medical examiner of Pinellas County, would perform the autopsy shortly after Schiavo’s death, and that her body would be returned to her husband. “It’s my understanding that the ... results will be public,” Felos said.

He also addressed concerns raised by Bob Schindler about the effects of the morphine Schiavo had been given.

“I have a great concern that they will expedite the process to kill her with an overdose of morphine,” Schindler said.

Felos said hospice records showed that Schiavo had been given low doses of the narcotic twice, on March 19 and Saturday, and that she was not on a continuous morphine drip.

When he visited Schiavo on Monday, Felos said, he found her eyes more sunken and her breathing more rapid than when he saw her two days earlier.

“Mrs. Schiavo’s appearance to me was very calm, very relaxed, very peaceful,” Felos said. “I saw no evidence of any bodily discomfort whatsoever.”

Her room had been decorated with flowers, soothing music was playing, and someone had placed a stuffed animal, a tabby cat, under Schiavo’s arm, Felos said.

Physicians have said Schiavo -- who suffered brain damage after a 1990 heart attack caused by an eating disorder -- could live 10 days to two weeks without food or water.

“It’s possible Mrs. Schiavo could die momentarily from cardiac arrest,” Felos said Monday. “On the other hand, her breathing is not labored, her skin tone is fine ... it doesn’t appear that her death is imminent.”

In Washington, about 30 protesters urged the federal government to act to keep Schiavo alive.

The Schindlers’ supporters began their visit outside the White House, where some carried signs reading “Let Her Live” and “Starve Michael Not Terri.”

The group then went to Capitol Hill, where the low-key reception they received was in marked contrast to the extraordinary legislative measures their appeals had generated more than a week ago. Then, Congress interrupted its spring recess to speed through a bill aimed at shifting the Schiavo case to the federal courts, and President Bush rushed back to Washington from his Texas ranch to sign it into law.

But the mid-level staffers they met with Monday “were pretty direct and candid,” said the Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, head of the evangelical Christian Defense Coalition. “They made a compelling point that they did all within their power to make sure that the feeding tube remained inside Terri Schiavo and all within their power to reinsert it once it was removed.”

Other activists said they already were focusing on the broader issues of the role of the federal courts in end-of-life issues, accepting that no more could be done to forestall Schiavo’s death.

Advocates for the disabled said they believed the case would help them win support in Congress for laws limiting the powers of guardians to determine life-and-death issues for disabled people who cannot express their own wishes.

Dahlburg reported from Dunedin and Curtius from Washington. Times staff writer Elise Castelli in Washington contributed to this report.