Cause of death - this is the determination of the medical series of events that were the proximate cause of the death. In Terri’s case it is almost certain to be organ failure(s) brought about by dehydration.

Manner of death - this is the ME’s professional assessment of whether the cause of death is attributable to the following:

1. Natural causes, which means that the deceased died from disease, including the infirmities of old age when applicable.

2. Suicide - this determination is rarely (if ever) determinable solely from an autopsy. The ME can only determine whether the cause of death was consistent with suicide, such as a broken hyoid bone in the neck, which results from hanging but not from choking.

3. Homicide - a death caused intentionally by another person. Again, whether the homicide was illegal is not determinable from the autopsy alone. The ME cannot tell, for example, whether the deceased was killed by another in justifiable self defense.

4. Accident - think of this as either unintentional self killing or unintentional homicide. Almost always this finding requires other investigation.

5. Undetermined - no conclusion can be drawn. For example, a body is found at the bottom of a tall cliff. The cause of death is blunt force trauma (hitting the ground) but absent other information the ME cannot determine whether the deceased jumped or was pushed or slipped and fell of the cliff.

I won’t try to predict what the ME’s determinations will be, except that accident and suicide seem pretty well ruled out. Homicide is too, since Terri’s death resulted from court rulings that Terri herself was expressed a desire not to be kept alive in her condition. So on the face of it, natural causes is the most likely finding.

The interesting question is this: what if the autopsy finds that Terri had suffered bodily injury/ies after she first fell ill, and that are consistent with being intentionally inflicted upon her? Rumors have abounded about Michael’s activities alone in Terri’s room.

One thing to remember is that unless a tissue injury is very recent an autopsy won’t discover it. So the ME will be able only to determine injuries to bones, possibly organs also, but again, in this circumstance that would be pretty tough. However, organs are excellent repositories of chemical evidence that could reveal whether Terri ingested or inhaled damaging substances (but evidence is also metabolized out of the body as well).

Again, my guess is that people hoping the autopsy will reveal evidence of Michael’s culpability will be disappointed. Even if, say, certain bones are revealed to be (or have been) broken at or after the time of her initial injury, determining the circumstances will be highly problematic and legally difficult case to make.