Michael doesn’t have to authorize an autopsy, Michael really doesn’t have any choice in the matter and he can’t refuse an autospy, the Medical Examiner needs to approve the request for a cremation before it happens.
Yesterday, George Felos said “that the chief medical examiner for Pinellas County, Dr. John Thogmartin, had agreed to perform an autopsy.
He said her husband wants definitive proof showing the extent of her brain damage. Michael Schiavo contends his wife told him years ago she would not want to be kept alive artificially under such circumstances.” (Via Fox News).
Michelle Malkin has some more links regarding this announcement and questions that have arisen regarding Terri’s condition.
Last night on Greta Van Susteren, reporter Julie Banderas said that it’s Florida law that an autopsy be performed on any body before cremation. This isn’t precisely true, in the case of a natural death with no questions, the Medical Examiner can approve a cremation without an autopsy, but the Medical Examiner must give approval before a body can be cremated.
At the Pinellas County Medical Examiners website here is the relevant statute: 406.11(1)(c)
A. All requests for cremation must be approved by the Medical Examiner prior to the actual cremation.
1.Before authorizing the irretrievable disposal of a body by cremation, the Medical Examiner must be assured that no future question will arise about the cause or circumstances of the death of the individual.
2. The death, if previously unreported to the Medical Examiner, must first be verified as a non-Medical Examiner case according to Florida Statutes, 406.11
E. J. Dionne Jr. has a piece in the Washington Post which examines the current discord between liberals and conservatives. He has a point with the following quote:
Liberals have so little respect for conservatives these days that people on the left are genuinely astonished when people on the right have principled disagreements with each other. The left assumes the right marches in lock step under orders from the White House.
Conservatives have so little respect for liberals that they see every liberal action as inspired by hatred of President Bush, opposition to religion and contempt for people in “the heartland.”
I agree entirely. What I find amusing though is how E. J. seems to elevate himself above the arena of discord, as if he were some reluctant spectator rather than a willing participant. While both sides have contemptuous views of one another, the liberal view is also the one that is perpetuated in the mainstream media as the one that is “correct”, which in turn increases conservatives’ contempt of the liberals.
It’s sort of like a hockey game where the referee is only calling penalties against one team. It often gets out of hand. But I have a feeling E. J. doesn’t watch hockey.