Schiavo’s husband orders autopsy to quiet dissenters

THE husband of brain-damaged Florida woman Terri Schiavo has ordered an autopsy after she dies to silence allegations his plan to cremate her body is aimed at hiding something, his lawyer said yesterday.

As supporters of Schiavo’s parents took their fight to prolong her life to Washington 10 days after her feeding was stopped, Michael Schiavo’s lawyer, George Felos, said her pulse had become “thready” and she had not passed urine for a while - a possible sign of approaching death.

He said Michael Schiavo, who has been pitted against the parents in a seven-year legal conflict over whether to allow Schiavo to die, requested an official autopsy to show the “massive” extent of the brain damage she suffered in 1990.