Mark Fuhrman: The facts of Terri Schiavo’s life (I read his new book today - five stars

MSNBC ^ | June 28 05 | Fuhrman

[DJ MacWoW]

Me: Spontaneous cardiac arrest? I think not.

You: It happens, even in young people.

The autopsy said she had a healthy heart. When healthy young people suffer a cardiac arrest, there's always a reason.

[malakhi]

Your assumption. Where did I say he caused the collapse? I merely said it was suspicious. And it is.

Oh, you don't think MS was responsible for her collapse?

[malakhi]

There is more to heart function than muscle action. There is also electrical activity. An electrolyte imbalance can lead to arrhythmia and cardiac arrest.

[DJ MacWoW]

Oh, you don't think MS was responsible for her collapse?

I don't know what caused her collapse and neither did the ME. That's why he left the case open.

There is more to heart function than muscle action. There is also electrical activity. An electrolyte imbalance can lead to arrhythmia and cardiac arrest.

Did you even read the autopsy?

[malakhi]

Did you even read the autopsy?

Sure I did. Nothing in there that dispelled that cause.

[DJ MacWoW]

Sure I did. Nothing in there that dispelled that cause.

What cause? There was no cause given for the cardiac arrest. The ME couldn't find a reason for the cardiac arrest. That's why the case was left open.

[malakhi]

The likely cause was cardiac arrest due to electrolyte imbalance.

[jonrick46]

Attempted Homicide. There are no limits for that crime. Michael Schiavo may live to be an old man and one day open the door to find a set of cuffs made just for him. Anyone who could force the starvation and dehydration of a person like he did has the capacity for homicide.

We all have heard about arrest and convictions of Nazi concentration camp criminals in their 80s. It may take years for justice to catch up with Schiavo and, like those Nazi criminals, he will look into the jaws of justices and find life's last days with bitter reward. I will give a wink of delight when that day comes.

[DJ MacWoW]

The likely cause was cardiac arrest due to electrolyte imbalance.

You know more than the ME?

[malakhi]

Terri Schiavo Case: Guardian at Law

Dr. Jay Wolfson: the evidence in the file indicates that Ms. Schiavo may have suffered from an eating disorder. She would drink between 15-20 glasses of iced tea each day and may have been purging additionally. before she was 18, she weighed 250 pounds, and then, with her loving mother, decided to lose weight. She did - and went down to about 150, at which time she met Michael. She continued to lose weigh aggressively, and got down to 110 before she had her accident. At the hospital, her electrolyte imbalance was profound, causing the cardiac arrest. That imbalance could have been caused by the extreme amount of fluid intake.

[malakhi]

Attempted Homicide. There are no limits for that crime.

And ZERO evidence that any foul play occurred.

[tbritton]

Spontaneous cardiac arrest? I think not.

Malakhi: It happens, even in young people.

It does, indeed. My husband and I lost our 14-year old son to an unexplained cardiac arrest (absolutely no evidence of drug use or alcohol abuse...our son was skateboarding at a local, contained, skateboard park at the time, something he had done almost daily for a couple of years with no greater ill effects than a "board burn" on his left shin when he was 12).

Sometimes, it is what it is, and that's all it is. Our son was autopsied within 72 hours of his cardiac arrest (and within 24 hours of his death), unlike Terri Schiavo, whose autopsy occurred 15 years and 34 days following her cardiac arrest. Even so, it didn't matter. There was no "reason" for his cardiac arrest...it was just a fact. A fact of his death. And, in the aftermath, one of the things we found out is that sudden and unexplained cardiac arrest (in the young and in the not so young) is not all that unusual.

[DJ MacWoW]

This was not proven. Get over it. Even the ME said it couldn't be proven. Schiavo testified that it was never proven.

[tbritton]

The autopsy said she had a healthy heart. When healthy young people suffer a cardiac arrest, there's always a reason.

No. There isn't. You could not be more wrong.

And I thank God that you and your family have (obviously) never been in a position to learn that first hand.

[DJ MacWoW]

A healthy heart just stops?!

[jonrick46]

Most people calling for the intervention in this Florida fiasco were not well informed about the Constitutional limits set upon state's rights issues. Most remember the federal intervention in the school segregation problem during the 1960s. They were hoping that there was some way the federal government could intervene in the Schiavo case. The ability of Schiavo to remove the feeding tube was made legal by legislation that slipped through with very little understanding by the typical Floridian of its implications. This law passed in the 1999 Florida Legislative Session in the provision entitled END-OF-LIFE CARE — CS/CS/SB 2228 (Klein), HB 2131 (Argenziano and including George Felos) allowed for feeding tubes to be removed. Notice that Schiavos lawyer George Felos lobbied and co-wrote for the bill's passage. The people of Florida are probably working now on striking down this law in coming sessions. This law may have looked good on the surface; especially to the large senior citizen population in Florida. However, when it has been shown to have potential for abuse, there are many who see this law as one which opens up involuntary euthanasia (which is a euphemism for homicide). Now that the law has been put through a road test, it is good to say that this law flunks.

It is too bad that the citizens of Florida were not alert when the law was first proposed. If it had been stopped, Terri Schiavo would be alive today.

[jonrick46]

We think it is suspicious enough that indications show there was no attempt at revival. Why did Mr. Schiavo forget to use his CPR training?

[tbritton]

A healthy heart just stops?!

Yes. In the case of our son, due to an identified, but unexplained, electrolyte imbalance. That's exactly correct.

The irony--and, for us, the joy--of it is that, among our son's donated and transplanted organs was his (very healthy) heart. The little girl who got his heart graduated from college this year, and our family was delighted to attend--and joyfully celebrate--that occasion.

[DJ MacWoW]

I'm sorry you lost your son but join in your joy that he saved others lives.

But you did say he had an electrolyte imbalance that caused his death. For that I'm sorry but that doesn't apply to Terri as she was given drugs to jump start her heart that would have caused an imbalance. In her case, it couldn't be shown to be the cause because of the administered drugs.

[Delphinium]

a guy that blew the OJ case by his sloppy investigation techniques is telling people how someone else screwed up.

I can't say his behavior was perfect, but who says the evidence was wrong? Those blacks would have found OJ not guilty no matter what proof was there.