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| Sample Letter to Pinellas Co. Coroner - Demand an Autopsy of Terri Schiavo |
| 2005-03-28 |
| Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc. http://www.aapsonline.org/ I hope we never have to use this information, but please keep it available in case the evil forces win. SAMPLE LETTER FROM READER: Dear Dr. Thogmartin: When Terri Schiavo dies, the potential exists that a crime will be covered up by her planned cremation without autopsy. That potential crime is NOT the issue at the center of the present controversy, but the yet unsubstantiated allegation that an assault led to her condition in the first place. It has been reported in the press that Michael Schiavo intends to cremate Terri Schiavo immediately upon her death. According to the Medical Examiner's department policy posted at: http://www.co.pinellas.fl.us/forensics/policy/policystatement.htm#CA , the medical examiner must approve or deny all such requests. The attending physician in Terri Schiavo's case has a history of 5 NPDB reported malpractice cases. There is an open quesiton of what led to her original "event". Please disallow the cremation until the medical examiner's office can perform an appropriate investigation and/or postmortem examination to determine both the immediate cause of death AND the proximate cause of death, including the search for any injuries from the past consistent with a potential crime. Despite the currently accepted rationale for her initial ?event?, evidence on postmortem examination may reveal that Terri Schiavo was the victim of a crime many years ago. Judge Greer has not allowed an MRI or PET Scan. PET scans are of no value post mortem, but MRI may have some limited benefit, in addition to the physical autopsy, particularly for small, old injuries to ligaments and muscles that would be consistent with a trauma that occurred due to a crime (e.g. strangulation or abuse) if one had occurred. If there are perpetrators of a crime covering something up, they will not want such an examination done. They will be afraid of justice. Please act now to assure no authorization is given for cremation without a proper investigation and autopsy to address these issues. Sincerely, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - XI. CREMATION APPROVAL (Florida Statutes 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. B. Approval of a cremation, and accepting the responsibility for irretrievably destroying potential evidence, is a decision based on the quality of the information on the death certificate. The death certificate should be accompanied by a CREMATION APPROVAL FORM filled out by the attending physician to demonstrate that the death was due to natural causes. The cause of death on the death certificate must be sufficient to: 1. rule out trauma, 2. identify the immediate cause(s) of death, i.e. septicemia, peritonitis, bronchopneumonia, renal failure, etc., and 3. identify the underlying or proximate cause of death - the ?due to? disease or injury responsible for initiating the lethal sequence of events. C. The most common pitfalls this office encounters with causes of death are: 1. failure to state the underlying cause of death; 2. scrambling of immediate and underlying causes of death; and 3. listing extraneous data in the section entitled 'Other Significant Conditions'. The section 'Other Significant Conditions' (Part II) should be used only for those conditions that contribute to death, but are unrelated to the cause(s) listed in Part I. D. The CREMATION APPROVAL FORM is often helpful in clarifying the cause of death as well as providing additional medical history that assures that the death was not by violence. ? Words like subdural, fracture, sepsis, fall, trauma, cardiac arrest, heart failure, hemiplegia, quadriplegia, paraplegia, and shock are mechanism of death and typically do not explain a natural death, and may indicate a traumatic origin. It is necessary to rule out traumatic underlying causes or identify the natural disease processes, which resulted in the cardiac arrest, for example. E. The procedure used to obtain and validate the approval of the Medical Examiner for a cremation, dissection (i.e. Anatomical Board) or burial at sea can be done in one of two ways. 1. The funeral home or direct disposer may bring the completed Burial Transit Permit, CREMATION APPROVAL FORM and the signed death certificate, with the cause of death section legibly completed to this office for approval between the hours of 8:00 am to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; or, 2. The funeral home or direct disposer may fax to this office (at 727-582-6820, 24 hours a day) the CREMATION APPROVAL FORM and signed death certificate with the cause of death section legibly completed. Approval will be made and the cremation approval document will be faxed back to the requesting funeral home, generally between the hours of 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, seven days a week (excluding holidays). In certain circumstances, the cremation approval information will be provided to the requesting funeral home by return phone call, generally between the hours of 8:00 am to 4:00 p.m. seven days a week (excluding holidays). F. Prior to submission of the death certificate to the Office of Vital Statistics, the cremation approval case number must be placed: 1. on the WHITE copy of the burial transit permit in Section C on the ?Signature? line; and 2. on the death certificate at the bottom right hand corner of the backside. (NOTE: use only light pencil because any dark ink will show through on the front and force Vital Statistics to have the funeral home redo the death certificate. G. Due to the 11,000+ approvals handled each year the Medical Examiner's Office limits approval times to 8:00 am to 4:00 p.m. seven days a week (excluding holidays) to permit adequate time for staff investigation of cause of death. Additional phone calls will be made to the requesting funeral home or direct disposer whenever additional death certificate information is required because it fails to adequately explain a non-traumatic (i.e. non-medical examiner) cause of death. H. Please note that on the death certificate Box 28 ?Case Reported to Medical Examiner? (Yes or No)? does refer to cremation approval in addition to deaths reported for investigation to determine if the death falls under the medical examiner?s jurisdiction. This box must have a ?Yes? if a cremation approval was given. |
| Posted by:BigEd |
| #8 Somebody backed down! One small victory; HAT TIP DRUDGE! Husband to Allow Autopsy |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-03-28 10:52:00 PM |
| #7 Cingold- Nice work! This whole story seems so wrong and illegal! I know many new statues will come out of this case. civil and criminal. Oh, yes, God sees all- and the x-hubby will get his~~Lutherford (spelling?) will be awaiting at the gates of Saint Helens. If I arrive before Mr. Schiavo- I'll take care of him. He seems to be the fox in charge here! Andrea Jackson |
| Posted by: andrea jackson 2005-03-28 9:00:18 PM |
| #6 I finally e-mailed Jon Thogmartin, M.D., the current district chief medical examiner for the Pinellas-Pasco County Medical Examinerâs Office. It took me like forever, since I only have a Bachelorâs degree in science, but I finally discovered that these guys have a website and want to be contacted: Link to District Six Medical Examinerâs Office I also âccâdâ the e-mail to Governor Bush and several media outlets. I hope the autopsy is done, without opposition from Michael Schiavo. Whoever does the autopsy must know that the eyes of the world will be upon them, and should visually record the autopsy as it is conducted. |
| Posted by: cingold 2005-03-28 8:38:20 PM |
| #5 Gee, we have the chief, judge ,jury, prosecutors the church- but where are Terri's right's? religous et al. If this happened to a cat or dog the parties involved would be arrested! Shakesphere said "get rid of them all!". Andrea Jackson |
| Posted by: andrea jackson 2005-03-28 7:48:41 PM |
| #4 Gee, we have the chief, judge ,jury, prosecutors the church- but where are Terri's right's? religous et al. If this happened to a cat or dog the parties involved would be arrested! Shakesphere said "get rid of them all!". Andrea Jackson |
| Posted by: andrea jackson 2005-03-28 7:46:36 PM |
| #3 Check Second Paragraph Something is going on... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-03-28 7:36:06 PM |
| #2 More food for thought: Scientology and Terri Schindler Schiavo: The Death Connection. |
| Posted by: Anonymous Coward 2005-03-28 6:31:54 PM |
| #1 Pleas enter on page 3. Sorry Fred.. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-03-28 4:47:08 PM |