Originally Posted - June 24, 2006

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Strangulation is defined as a form of asphyxia, lack of oxygen, characterized by closure of the blood vessels and/or air passages as a result of external pressure on the neck.

It is indisputable that at age 26, Terri Schindler Schiavo sustained brain damage as the result of a suspicious incident at her Florida home which occurred sometime during the evening of Feb. 24, 1990, or the early morning hours of Feb. 25, 1990, which resulted in the deprivation of oxygen to her brain for four to six minutes.

In a manual entitled "Emergency Care for Choke Holds", John Boulay of Quebec, Canada, explains the physiology of choking. The amount of pressure directed to the superior carotid triangle of the neck and needed to render an adult unconscious is no more than 300 mm Hg. A proper performed choke, stated in general terms, requires no great amount of strength. Boulay's revised article was published in "Coaching Review" Ottawa, Ontario.

According to the Society of Scientific Study in Judo (Kodokan, Tokyo, Japan), the state of unconsciousness is caused by temporal hypoxic condition of the cerebral cortex (lack of oxygen to the brain).

"Unconsciousness occurs about 10 seconds after the application of an effective choke. After release, an athlete should regain consciousness in about 20 seconds. Should the athlete remain unresponsive after this period, seek medical assistance immediately. Unconsciousness in itself may be deemed a medical emergency if it is prolonged and the underlying cause is not recognized.

"As with unconscious athletes (except spine-injured), an unresponsive person should be rolled on to their side while protecting the head and letting it rest on the athlete's extended arm in the recovery (lateral recumbent) position. In this position, the airway remains open and is not blocked by a relaxed tongue. Fluids such as saliva and maybe even vomitus are also allowed to flow out of the mouth and not into the airway.

In a statement given to Dr. James Carnahan at Mediplex Rehabilitation Center in Bradenton on Jan. 29, 1991, more than a year before the malpractice claims, Michael relates that vomitus was found next to Terri Schiavo.

Michael tried to claim it belonged to Terri's cats.

It was never mentioned on the police report and there is no report of it ever being analyzed to determine the origin. He never mentioned the vomit in any of his testimony although he claims that Terri had gotten up to tend to the cats. Although his medical malpractice claim was premised on the fallacy that Terri was bulimic, he never raised the issue about the vomit.

Because of its proximity to Terri's head, according to Michael Schiavo himself, it's highly likely any existing vomitus was emitted from Terri, possibly as the result of a choke hold.

The only other known person present at the time Terri Schiavo incurred her incapacitating injuries on Feb. 25, 1990 was her husband, Michael Schiavo. According to family members and friends, there had been a pattern of domestic abuse in the relationship, possessiveness and anger allegedly demonstrated by Michael Schiavo.

Terri’s brother, Bobby Schindler, says that he himself was once the subject of a violent rage by Michael. He says that in 1984, when the family was still living in Philadelphia, he and Michael got into an argument. “I remember distinctly that Michael got so upset that he suddenly snapped, and grabbed me by the throat and threw me down on the couch, had one hand around my neck and the other was in the air ready to punch me in the face. I couldn’t move and I don’t know what would have resulted if it weren’t for Terri and my girlfriend screaming at him to let me go”.

Former girlfriends of Michael Schiavo including Cyndi Shook Brasher have alleged that Michael was abusive and violent and that they feared him. It has been alleged that he engaged in stalking of them and was possessive and controlling.

Mary Schindler relates an incident which occurred in the Schindlers’ kitchen between Michael and Scott Schiavo when Michael put his brother in a carotid choke hold, indicating that Michael knew about the maneuver. Scott freed himself from the hold and the two then wrestled on the floor.

Her brother Bobby, a good friend and work partner Jackie Rhodes and her parents and even Michael's brother, Scott Schiavo relate that Michael and Terri had been arguing on Saturday, Feb. 24, 1990 and that Terri was visibly upset in her last conversations with her brother and her friend. Both say she had been talking about divorcing Michael.

The stated cause of Terri's injuries was long said to be an alleged cardiac arrest resulting from a potassium imbalance due to an eating disorder.

The autopsy ruled out those fallacies.

But the autopsy of Terri Schindler Schiavo opened the door to more questions rather than providing closure and seems to point the finger even more at Michael Schiavo, the estranged husband and guardian.

In the year since Terri's death and with the release of his book and false statements about material facts which are directly contradictory to sworn testimony and in some situations, even fabricates sworn testimony, with a death having occurred, there is more than sufficient probable cause for a cold case squad to open an investigation in the death of Terri Schindler Schiavo.

The cause of death of the 41-year-old brain damaged woman is officially undetermined, according to Dr. Jon Thogmartin, Pinellas County medical examiner, and the investigation remains open.

The medical examiner said that there was absolutely no evidence of bulimia and that the assumption of bulimia presented at the medical malpractice trial in 1992 had never been challenged. He also ruled out the 15-year fallacy presented by the mainstream media that she had incurred a heart attack saying that her collapse was the result of an "external problem outside of the heart causing the heart not to beat".

Thogmartin further disputed the potassium imbalance caused by purging or bulimia theory perpetuated by the mainstream media, saying there was absolutely no evidence of such.

Thogmartin contradicted himself during the June 2005 press conference concerning the autopsy, at one point saying that she would not have been able to eat or drink orally but later in the presentation emphatically stated that Terri Schiavo had sustained an anoxic brain injury and had the feeding tube been pulled, she would have been able to eat and drink by mouth.

The family believes that Michael Schiavo and Terri had a violent argument earlier in the evening she collapsed and the medical evidence seems to support, that Terri Schiavo may have been a strangulation victim that evening.

While Thogmartin, upon questioning, said there were no signs of abuse although he indicated that a "lot of records have been destroyed" and that the case would remain open because of the missing documents. Thogmartin indicated that he based his autopsy findings on medical reports provided by Gary Fox, one of the two medical malpractice attorneys for Michael Schiavo and specifically noted that he could not have completed the autopsy without those reports. It would appear that Schiavo's prior attorney, Gary Fox, is the one responsible for having destroyed records in the case.

The hospital admittance records from 1990 show evidence of trauma to Terri Schiavo's neck. Her friends have testified during court proceedings that she was unhappy in her marriage to Schiavo and was allegedly contemplating a divorce from Michael Schiavo who was allegedly possessive and jealous.

Dr. William Hammesfahr, a world renowned neurologist wrote a complete report concerning the Schiavo case in September, 2002, revealing that medical tests conducted after her collapse did not show evidence of a heart attack. In the emergency room, a possible diagnosis of heart attack was briefly entertained but then dismissed after blood chemistries and serial EKG's did not show evidence of a heart attack. Dr. Hammesfahr testified that she had sustained injuries consistent with abuse. Schiavo, Felos and forces then set about trying to discredit Dr. Hammesfahr.

Although the police report taken Feb. 25, 1990, by the St. Petersburg Police Department indicates that the incident should have been routed to the homicide division, it was not and no criminal investigation of the matter has ever been conducted. When FDLE special agent Mark Dubina tried to open an investigation into the matter in 2003 on complaint of attorney Patricia Anderson, he was allegedly told to close it down by former FLDE commissioner Guy Tunnell or else he would lose his job.

Although both Michael and Bobby indicate that the police officers were initially accusatory about drug use and alleged that Terri's collapse may have been related to an overdose, no search of the apartment or further investigation of the drugs found on the counter, allegedly prescribed to Michael Schiavo, was conducted.

According to the police report, the two officers from the St. Petersburg Police Department reponding to the call were Philip Brewer and Rodney Tower. Perhaps one of the reasons there was virtually no investigation of the entire matter (officers arrived at 6:33 a.m. and completed their "investigation" at 8:55 a.m.) was that Tower was only a probationary officer.

The police report indicates that the supervisor on duty that morning was George Chapman, an investigator with the St. Petersburg department.

Chapman contributed $250 to the reelection campaign of Bernie McCabe in 2000 in July, 2000 after Judge George Greer had already ruled to remove the nutrition and hydration of Terri Schiavo.

McCabe consistently thwarted all attempts to open a criminal investigation into the Schiavo matter.

One of the most compelling reasons to impanel a grand jury into the matter, which Gov. Jeb Bush has the constitutional and statutory authority to do, is the original opinion issued by Dr. Michael Baden, renowned forensic pathologist, author of three books on forensic pathology. Dr. Baden is the former chief medical examiner for the city of New York and co-director of the Medicolegal Investigation Unit of the New York State Police.

Baden said that the injuries sustained by Terri Schiavo could have happened from "some kind of trauma. The trauma could be from an auto accident, the trauma could be from a fall or the trauma could be from some kind of beating that she obtained from somebody somewhere. It's something that should have been investigated in 1990".

There are three forms of strangulation---hanging, ligature and manual. Almost all attempted or actual homicides by strangulation involve either ligature or manual strangulation, according to a manual regarding the investigation and prosecution of strangulation cases written by Gael B. Strack, San Diego assistant city attorney; and Dr. George McClane, emergency physician. The manual was edited by David C. James, deputy city attorney for San Diego and was updated in May, 1999.

A bulletin issued by the New York State Office for Prevention of Domestic Violence states that strangulation has only recently been identified as one of the most lethal forms of domestic violence. When perpetrators use strangulation to silence their victims, this is a form of power and control that has a devastating psychological effect on victims and a potentially fatal outcome. Historically, "choking" was rarely prosecuted as a serious offense because victims minimize the level of violence and police and medical personnel fail to recognize it.

There is no statute of limitations on homicide.

Almost all attempted or actual homicides by strangulation involve either ligature or manual strangulation, according to the manual. Ten percent of violent deaths in the U.S. each year are due to strangulation, six females to every male. Ligature strangulation is strangulation with a cord-like object, also referred to as garroting, and many include anything from a telephone cord to articles of clothing. Manual strangulation, throttling, is usually done with the hands, but notable variants include using the forearms, as when police officers used carotid restraint, to standing or kneeling on the victim's throat.

Manual self-strangulation is not possible because when the individual loses consciousness, pressure can no longer be applied.

According to the manual, on a daily basis, police departments across the country receive a constant stream of 911 domestic violence calls where victims report being threatened, pushed, slapped, kicked, punched, choked, stabbed or even shot. Some agencies report that as much as 40% of all their 911 calls are domestic violence related.

Four million American women experience a serious assault by an intimate partner during an average 12-month period. Nearly one in three adult women experience at least one physical assault by a partner during adulthood.

The rate of domestic violence determination by emergency room doctors is low. Domestic homicide is often the culmination an escalating history of abuse. Some 88% of victims of domestic violence had a documented history of physical abuse.

Strack and McClane state that they learned through their studies that on a regular basis victims had reported being choked and that in many of those cases, there was very little visible injury or evidence to corroborate the "choking" incident. The lack of evidence caused the criminal justice system to treat many "choking" cases as minor incidents similar to slaps in the face where only redness may appear. Unconsciousness within seconds. Death within minutes. It's not just a slap in the face.

The initial study conducted by the duo consisted of 100 strangulation cases which were selected at random from police reports submitted over a five-year period. The first 100 victims were all woman who reported being choked by their partners with bare hands, arms or objects such as electrical cords, belts, rope, bras or bathing suits. In one case, a victim reported that her boyfriend put a plastic bag over her heard and tried to suffocate her. There was a history of domestic violence in 90%t of the cases and children were present in at least 50% of the cases.

Focusing on the visible signs of strangulation, the study found that police officers reported no visible injuries in 62% of the cases. Minor visible injuries, such as redness or scratch marks, were reported in 22% of the case but often injuries were too minor to photograph. Significant visible injuries, such as red marks, bruises or rope burns, were found in only 16% of the cases.

Victims sought medical attention in only 3% of the cases, primarily due to persistent pain, voice changes or trouble swallowing. Focusing in the symptoms reported by victims and documented in police reports, the study showed that victims often reported pain to their throats or hoarseness. Other victims reported nausea, loss of consciousness, hyperventilation, defecation, uncontrollable shaking or loss of memory.

Overall, many of the police reports neglected to clearly document how the victim was strangled, for how long, what threats were being made or what symptoms the victims were experiencing.

In 1999, the Clinton County (NY) District Attorney's office and the New York Prosecutors Training Institute hosted the nation's leading experts in the prosecution and investigation of strangulation cases. Strack and McClane presented their findings at the three-day conference, "Detection and Prosecution of Strangulation in Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Cases".

A rudimentary knowledge of neck anatomy is critical in order to understand adequately the clinical features of a strangled victim. The hyoid bone is a a small horseshoe-shaped bone in the neck which helps to support the tongue. The larynx, made up of cartilage, not bone, consist of two parts: the thyroid cartilage (so-called because it is next to the thyroid gland) and the tracheal rings. Carotid arteries are the major vessels that transport oxygenated blood from the heart and lungs to the brain. These are the arteries at the side of the neck that persons administering CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) check for pulses. Jugular veins are the major vessels that transport deoxygenated blood from the brain back to the heart.

The general clinical sequence of a victim who is being strangled is one of severe pain, followed by unconsciousness, followed by brain death. The victim will lose consciousness by any one or all of the following: blocking of the carotid arteries (depriving the brain of oxygen), blocking of the jugular veins (preventing deoxygenated blood from exiting the brain) and closing off the airway, causing the victim to be unable to breath. Only 11 pounds of pressure placed on both carotid arteries for 10 seconds is necessary to cause unconsciousness. However, if pressure is released immediately, consciousness will be regained within 10 seconds. After 50 seconds of continuous oxygen deprivation, the victim rarely recovers.

To completely close off the trachea, three times as much pressure (33 lbs) is required. Brain death will occur in 4 to 5 minutes, if strangulation persists.

Breathing changes may be due to the hyperventilating that normally goes hand in hand with a terrifying event, but more significantly may be secondary to an underlying neck injury. The victim may find it difficult to breathe (dyspnea) or may be unable to breathe (apnea). It is critical to appreciate that although breathing changes may initially appear to be mild, underlying injuries may kill the victim up to 36 or more hours later due to decompensation of the injured structures.

The tiny red spots (petechiae) characteristic of many cases of strangulation are due to ruptured capillaries---the smallest blood vessels I the body---and sometimes may be found only under the eyelids. However, sometimes they may be found around the eyes in the periobital region, anywhere on the face and on the neck in and above the area of constriction.

Victims may have no visible injuries whatsoever, with only transient symptoms-yet because of underlying brain damage by lack of oxygen during the strangling, victims have died up to several weeks later. Because of the unforeseen consequences of injuries from a strangulation attempt that may appear minor to the untrained, officers at the scene should radio for medics for a medical evaluation of all victims who report being strangled----if they are capable of making a report.

Although the mainstream media has continually reported, with the assistance of the court, that the injury was the result of a potassium imbalance. Dr. Baden says it is extremely rare for a 20-year-old to have a cardiac arrest from low potassium, especially an individual like Terri who has no other diseases.

'The reason that she's in the state she's in is because there was a period of time, maybe five to eight minutes, when not enough oxygen was going to her brain", Dr. Baden says. He says that while that can happened because the heart stops for five to eight minutes, that in this case she had a healthy heart from what he could see.

Consider the testimony of Dr. Hammesfahr regarding Terri's neck injury fro Oct. 11, 2002.

A. Anoxic and hypoxic encephalopathies are characterized by multiple small strokes. So depending upon where that stroke is, is where your deficiency is. In your average stroke, the entire side of the body is affected. But in a hypoxic or anoxic episodes, or cerebral palsy, you will see lots of different areas affected. And there may be another injury, a neck injury with her also, which compounds her examination.

Q. Compounds what, her condition?

A. Her condition, yes. There is a neck injury. There may be a spinal cord injury, also.

Q. How were you able to determine a neck injury?

A. By physical examination. On physical examination, she has several characteristics that are not typical of a stroke. First, she has very severe neck spasms. That's typical of the body's response, splinting the area to prevent injury to that area.

Q. Splinting the area?

A. Yeah. If you injure your arm, you will move it. Your muscles will contract around it to keep that area moving. Her muscles around the neck area are heavily contracted to help prevent movement around that area. Later on in the videotape, we actually show that it's almost impossible for her to bend her neck. You can pick her entire body up off the bed just by putting pressure on the back of the neck area, which is not typical in brain injury patients but in neck injury patients. In addition, her sensory examination is nothing like a typical stroke patient or typical anoxic encephalopathy.

Q. Are you experienced in treatment of patients with spinal cord injury?

A. Yes, I am.

Q. You said that you had never felt a neck like that except for one other patient, right?

A. Correct.

Q. What was the cause of injury in the other patient?

A. The person had an anoxic encephalous due to attempted strangulation.

Thogmartin has listed the cause of death as "complications of Anoxic encephalopathy"---failure of oxygen to be delivered to the brain resulting in brain dysfunction. Thogmartin says that the anoxic brain injury sustained by Terri Schiavo on Feb. 25, 1990, was caused by lack of blood flow and oxygen to her brain but that the cause of that condition could not be detected and was undetermined. He did not rule out that the injuries could have been caused by smothering.

Strangulation is defined as a form of asphyxia, lack of oxygen, characterized by closure of the blood vessels and/or air passages as a result of external pressure on the neck.

Ken Connor of Wilkes-McHugh, the attorney who represented Florida's Gov. Jeb Bush during the 2003 attempt by the Governor and Florida Legislature to save the life of Terri Schindler Schiavo by the passage of Terri's Law has emphasized that the medical examiner's report says a subtle form of trauma which could have involved a blow to the chest cannot be ruled out.

Connor has noted that on the Larry King show, "Michael Schiavo had said that Terri had collapsed around 4:30 in the morning. In his testimony, he indicated it was around 5 o'clock but what is uncontroverted and uncontradicted is the fact that the 911 call did not come until 5:40 a.m. That means there was a gap of either 40 minutes or an hour, 10 minutes, depending on which version of Michael you accept. That kind of discrepancy begs for further investigation, especially in light of the fact that the medical examiner couldn't rule out other potential causes of death, some of which would not be benign".

Schiavo also told the medical examiner that the time of Terri's collapse was approximately 5 p.m. but also Gov. Jeb Bush asked the state attorney's office to conduct an investigation based on the time discrepancies and the apparent lapse of time of 40 to 70 minutes between the time Schiavo purportedly found Terri collapsed, Schiavo then changed the time, stating in his book that it was 5:30 a.m. and that he called 911 "less than a minute after finding Terri on the floor". Even that scenario isn't plausible for him to have picked her up as he claims, babbling at her, then put face down again as she was found and supposedly calling 911. Even that has a 10 minute lapse. Throughout all his testimony and Larry King appearances, Schiavo had stated he was getting out of bed "for some reason" while in other situations he has said he was "awakened" but in his book he's definitive it was because he had to go to the bathroom.

In responding to Felos' assertion that if Michael hadn't called for assistance immediately, that Terri would have died on the spot, Connor said that there is "some evidence to suggest that even before he called 911, Michael called Terri's father who told him that he needed to get off the phone and call 911. It's a curious thing that we have this gap, this unexplained gap, that Michael would call not the emergency medical people in the first instance, but rather Terri's dad and then of course, you know the family pointed to changes in Michael's behavior after he got his hands on the money that called into question his motives".

Thogmartin did not rule out the possibility of smothering or a choke hold which may have caused the loss of oxygen to Terri's brain and experts have stated that a victim of a choke hold or smothering would not demonstrate visible injury or evidence to corroborate the "choking" incident. The lack of evidence caused the criminal justice system to treat many "choking" cases as minor incidents similar to slaps in the face where only redness may appear. Unconsciousness within seconds. Death within minutes. It's not just a slap in the face, experts say.

Thogmartin said that they found no "conclusive" evidence of why a woman everyone believed was healthy suddenly collapsed with a failing heart, starving her brain of oxygen and blood. Neither did Dr. Baden.

However, most importantly, Thogmartin did not rule out that suffocation or attempted smothering had occurred in Terri's case. Responding to a question what other etiologies are possible, Thogmartin said that "subtle trauma related to commotio cordis (a swift blow to the chest) or nontraumatic asphyxia (suffocation) is also possible but no evidence of these exists", and no evidence of those would exist 15 years after the fact.

According to the manual regarding the investigation and prosecution of strangulation cases written by Strack and McClane, overall, many police reports neglect to clearly document how the victim was strangled, for how long, what threats were being made or what symptoms the victims were experiencing.

In the case of Terri Schiavo, police could not interview her and obtain her version of what occurred the night of Feb. 25, 1990, and in the hours leading up to her sudden collapse. And Michael Schiavo told them that there had been no problems, no arguments in direct contradiction to what Terri's best friends and her family told police and to which they later testified. Even in his own brother admits that Michael and Terri had been arguing that day and considering that Scott Schiavo was not present, he must be relating what his brother Michael told him.

In "Forensic Pathology", Dominick J. DiMaio and Vincent J.M. DiMaio state that "rarely, one will encounter a death alleged to have occurred due to application of either a choke (bar arm control) or a carotid sleeper hold. These terms are often used interchangeably, but, in fact, refer to two different types of hold whose purpose is to produce transient cerebral ischemia and unconsciousness. Neither involves use of a mechanical implement. Rather, the arm and forearm are used to compress the neck, producing the cerebral ischemia and unconsciousness.

"With choke (bar arm control) holds, compression of the neck by the forearm is used to occlude the upper airway. Incapacitation is due to collapse of the airway and the carotid arteries with a resultant decrease in oxygen to the brain. The forearm is placed straight across the front of the neck. The free hand grips the wrist, pulls it back, collapsing the airway.

Even the court's own witness in the guardianship case, Dr. Peter Bambakidis, testified to the rigid neck of Terri Schiavo upon her admission to the hospital.

Bambakidis, appointed by Judge George Greer as the fifth doctor in the medical evidentiary hearing held in October, 2002 and on which Greer based his "diagnosis" that Terri Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state, at Page 302 of the court transcript, testified:

Direct Examination

Q. Did you happen to be provided with an Admission record at Northside Hospital when she had her collapse base in February of '90 that noted that on admission she presented with a rigid neck?

Page 303
1 A.. I believe I do recall that, correct.
2 Q. So she may, in fact, have had this
3. rigid neck all these years?
4. A. Yes, she may have.
5. Q. Do you treat patients with spinal cord
6. injury in addition to patients with brain
7.disorders?
8. A. On occasion, yes.
9. Q. is excessive sweating and facial rashes
10. an cyanosis in the extremities, are those
11 symptoms of a cord injury or can they be?
12. A. They can be.

"Choke holds can also cause death by another mechanism", the DeMaios stated. "In a choke hold, incapacitation is produced by lack of oxygen to the brain. This hypoxia is generalized, however, due to compression of the airway. Hypoxia sensitizes the heart to arrhythmia. The carotid sinus is a structure located in the internal carotid artery, just above the bifurcation of the common carotid artery. Stimulation of this structure by pressure to the neck can cause bradykardia and/or a fall in arterial blood pressure. Thus, we have two factors working on the heart predisposing to arrhythmias: the hypoxia from occlusion of the airway and the bradykardia from stimulation of the carotid sinus. There is, in addition, a third factor: release of catecholamines. Choke holds are used to restrain an individual who is struggling. On placement of the hold, the individual usually continues to struggle. This results in release of catecholamines, specifically, norepinephirene and epinephrine. These have an arrythmogenic action on the heart. Thus, the combined actions of hypoxia and catecholamines, which are both arrhytmogenic, plus the bradykardia produced by the carotid sinus stimulation, may result in a fatal cardiac arrhythmia.

"In the carotid sleeper hold, symmetrical force is applied by the forearm and upper arm to the sides of the neck such that there is compression of only the carotid arteries and jugular veins and not the trachea. The arm is placed about the neck with the antecubital fossa or crook of the arm centered at the midline of the neck. The free hand grips the wrist of the other arm and pulls it backward, creating a pincher effect. This produces transient cerebral ischemia. The carotid sleeper hold impedes blood flow of the carotid arteries by pressure exerted on both sides of the neck by pincher effect of the arm and forearm. If properly applied, the compression of the carotid arteries will cause loss of consciousness in approximately 10-15 s. On relaxation of the hold, cerebral blood flow will be restored and consciousness will return in approximately 10-20 s, without any serious side effects. Maintenance of the pressure is essentially manual strangulation, and if continued long enough will, of course, cause death.

"In theory, the carotid sleeper hold will cause rapid unconsciousness without injury to the individual. Unfortunately, in violently struggling individuals, a carotid sleeper hold can easily and unintentionally be converted into a choke hold as the individual twists and turns to break the hold.

"A properly applied carotid sleeper can also cause death. One would not expect any trauma to the structures of the neck, however. The compression of the carotid arteries, with resultant decreased cerebral blood flow, can theoretically precipitate a stroke in an individual with atherosclerotic disease of the carotid and/or cerebral vasculature. The pressure may cause dislodgement of atherosclerotic material with a stroke due to an embolus. Blood flow to the brain is from both the carotid and the vertebral arteries. If the vertebral arteries have impaired blood flow due to atherosclerosis then occlusion of the carotid arteries may compromise an already compromised circulation with resultant thrombosis and/or stroke.

"Compression of the neck by a carotid sleeper hold may also cause stimulation of the carotid sinus with bradycardia. Application of the hold to an individual who is agitated and struggling may increase the struggling, with increased release of catecholamines. The catecholamines working with the carotid sinus stimulation may produce a cardiac arrest. In addition, if the individual has intrinsic heart disease, he may be even more sensitive to bradycardia and the arrhythmogenic activity of the catecholamines".

Asphyxia is a condition of severely deficient supply of oxygen to the body. In the absence of remedial action it will very rapidly lead to unconsciousness and death Asphyxia is the same as suffocation. Anoxia means the pathological state in which tissues do not get (enough of) oxygen..

Causes of asphyxia can include:

Physical obstruction of the passage of air to or from the lungs:
Crushing or constriction of the chest or abdomen
Choking
Drowning
Strangulation, or external constriction of the neck or throat, e.g. by a rope (as in hanging), hands, or a constrictor snake
Reduction of the airways due to anaphylaxis or asthma
Inhalation of vomit
Positional asphyxia
The extremely dangerous and frequently lethal practice of erotic asphyxiation also called "breath control play"

Prolonged asphyxia can result in brain damage even when it does not cause death.

In Judo, to perform a shimewaza (or choking technique), the player applies pressure on the opponent's neck usually by pulling on the opponent's collar or by directly applying the forearm to the neck by his hands (forearm) or judogi (uniform) and in doing so obstructs the blood flow of the common carotid artery (not the vertebral artery). The complete obstruction of blood flow to the brain or asphyxia by complete closure of the trachea (windpipe) will result in irreversible damage (if held too long) to the body and possibly in death. However, in 99% of the choking techniques there is not complete blockage of the trachea…….."

Scott Schiavo has admitted he has knowledge that Michael and Terri had argued Feb. 24, 1990, giving cause for him to be interrogated under oath to determine the source of his information and what other information he may have about Feb. 24 and 25, 1990.

The continuing swirling questions which arise as the result of the publication of Michael Schiavo's book constitute new evidence, sufficient evidence to establish the requisite probable cause to open the long delayed investigation in the Terri Schiavo case.

A conviction was just obtained in Ohio for a decades old murder.

It's not too late for justice for Terri Schiavo. 6-24-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette