Autopsy suggests Schiavo cognizant Analyst: 'It's possible Terri was aware of everything being done to her"

Challenging the assumptions of many analysts and news reports, an attorney who specializes in medical ethics cases points out the autopsy report of Terri Schiavo indicates the brain-injured woman might have been cognizant of her surroundings as her family insisted.

Jerri Lynn Ward of Austin, Texas, notes the report released Wednesday in the high-profile case states: "The frontal temporal and temporal poles and insular-cortex demonstrated relative preservation."

"What this tells us is that her cortex retained function and that her brain was more normal in the area that controls higher-level thinking," said Ward, who has weighed in on the case in her weblog.