[Mr. Silverback]

Now the autopsy has revealed that all the paranoia and lies the Schindleristas spread have no basis. But that will not stop them from attempting to discredit EVEN MORE medical and judicial authorities. They are worse than the DUmmies.

Let's say just for the sake of discussion that the ME report was accurate. I have my doubts about anything coming out of Pinellas at this point (County motto: Conflict of interest? What conflict of interest?), but what the hey.

Remeber that firefighter in Buffalo? The one who was in a PVS for years, and came out of it? That guy was without oxygen for ten minutes or more. Think about that...total brain death down to the last cells in the stem occurs in less than 15 minutes...this guy was down for ten...the parts of his brain that direct higher functions should be tapioca.

If that guy had been taken off the feeding tube (or had a coronary) two years ago and done an autopsy, they might have found results much like Terri's. And if they didn't, they'd probably be expecting similar results. You also might want to send your concerns to either of the two women on the Schindler side who were formerly diagnosed with PVS and are OK today, including one who remembers the terrible pain she went through after her feeding tube was removed.

So, in the end, all the autopsy means (at best) is that now we know what we didn't know before, and we can pat ourselves on the back for making the wrong choice during our period of uncertainty. It might mean we don't know anything, because the brain is very plastic. It might also be total crap, even if it's honest. For example, if she was blind, what's with all the testiony from people on both sides of the issue talking about her recognizing them?

What the autopsy won't change is the fact that a judge took a decade-old conversation remembered by a person with a conflict of interest and treated it as if it were a written document. It doesn't change the fact that the judge believed a PVS assessment from a right-to-die activist with a record of false PVS diagnoses, including a diagnosis of PVS in a guy who could identify colors and symbols, communicate with the staff, and pilot a motorized wheelchair. Most importantly, it doesn't change the damage that has been done to the law by this precedent.

Even if the autopsy says what you think, it's as if 50 solid witnesses showed up and gave a death row defendant an alibi, and the judge said, "Nope, kill him anyway, I'm not interested in this evidence," and then the defendant turns out to have done it after all. Were the witnesses mistaken? Yes. Was the judge wrong. Certainly.

And you know what? If I thought Michael Schiavo was a prince among men, I would still have been on the Schindler's side, because a remebered verbal living will is every bit as silly as a remebered verbal probate will.

Dozens of veterans from WWII are dying every day the vast majority of which are ignored while the cauterwaulng and breastbeating over the final release of TS reaches epidemic proportions.

Oh, and before you cast aspersions, you might want to consider that folks do stuff beyond FR. For example, I'm working on a project right now to get oral histories from every WWII ad Korea vet in my county, and I'm hoping that the local college and newspapers will participate, thereby getting these stories in front of thousands of people who need to hear them. If you really think the GOP is going to fall apart because a large segment has said that starving a human to death is a bad idea, you need to step away and have a beer.

[justshutupandtakeit]

I don't remember much about the firefighter but what I do doesn't make me change my opinion in the TS case.

What disturbed me most about this whole affair was the unwarranted and vicious attacks on MS. Having had to lose a beloved wife myself I know some of the things he had to go through and recognize the efforts he made to help Terri.
Thus, those calling him a "murderer" and accusing him of having inflicted the initial injuries to her turned me away from their allegations immediately. Hence I do not believe anything that is side by those who support such tactics.

Then, adding to the disgust, were the wholesale attacks on the judge, the medical experts, the hospice, the lawyers and everyone else who had the slightest doubt about keeping brainstems alive. If they saw a frog's leg jumping it would be alive by their standards.

Making the whole thing worse were the demands that the judge ignore law and commonsense while at the same time they are condemning judicial activism. And my evaluation of the videos and what the parents claimed just did not support the Schindlerista claims.

Topping off the whole mess were the Hate American comments of "Cultural of Death" which are the height of falsehood and deceit. America spends GIGANTIC amounts on preserving life, more than the GNP of almost all other nations. Death is fought with a desperation that beggars description. And in this case millions were spent along with thousands and thousands of hours of court time. If anyone ever received "their day in court" more than TS I am not aware of them.

This boiled down to a conflict between those who fear death and those who understand that at some point life ends or becomes not worth living. Preserving the barest semblance of life such as what was left to TS is a disservice to her and grotesque insult to her.