Posted on 02/26/2005 5:18:05 AM PST by ViLaLuz
A Philadelphia Inquirer columnist who believes in the "right to die" has changed his mind about the Terri Schiavo case, pointing to "uncomfortable details" about her estranged husband that now lead him to side with the parents of the brain-damaged Florida woman, who are fighting to keep her alive.
John Grogan said in a column published today, "I no longer so blithely believe Schiavo's feeding tubes should be pulled and her life allowed to end. I'm no longer so sure her parents do not deserve a say in their daughter's future. I no longer am totally comfortable assuming her husband, Michael, who now has two children by another woman, is acting unselfishly."
Michael Schiavo has been living with his fiance Jodi Centonze since 1995 and has said he will marry her upon the death of his wife.
Grogan said he hasn't changed his opinion that everyone has a right to "die with dignity," but he believes that in the Schiavo case, the "devil is in the details, uncomfortable details that raise sticky moral dilemmas."
Terri Schiavo suffered severe brain damage in 1990 after collapsing. Michael Schiavo attributes it to a chemical imbalance caused by an eating disorder, but parents Robert and Mary Schindler believe he may have tried to strangle her.
Michael Schiavo contends his wife told him she never would want to be kept alive artificially.
But Grogan points out Terri Schiavo's heart and lungs function on their own, and she requires only a feeding tube that might not be necessary if she were given physical therapy.
The columnist notes Michael Schiavo, as her legal guardian, has forbidden any therapy.
"If [Terri] Schiavo merely required spoon feeding instead of tube feeding, would anyone seriously be arguing to withhold food and water?" Grogan asked. "Does not every human, no matter how incapacitated, deserve sustenance?"
Grogan also is concerned about abuse allegations against Michael Schiavo and believes they should be investigated.
The allegations "may be nothing but scurrilous rumor spread to damage his credibility," he wrote. "But what if there is even a tiny chance he is guilty of abuse? Should such a person be in a position to decide this life-and-death issue?"
When it comes to who is best to decide, Grogan wrote, it's clear that Terri Schiavo's parents "have proved themselves nothing if not fiercely loyal, utterly committed parents. They might be misguided. They might be in denial. But no one can argue their devotion. They have not given up. They have not stopped caring. They have not stopped loving. Who are we, as a society, to tell them they must?
Grogan concluded:
"Clearly, Schiavo's husband has moved on to a new life, and who can blame him? It's been 15 long years. But parents cannot move on. Parents cannot give up. Their child will always be the precious gift they brought into the world.
If the Schindlers want to dedicate the rest of their lives and resources to caring for their brain-damaged daughter, if they want to shower her with attention and affection she likely will never recognize, who among us will tell them they cannot.
It won't be me."
John Grogan | Second thoughts on Terri Schiavo -- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1350930/posts?page=19
Celebrated forensic pathologist says 1990 injuries should be investigated
Posted: October 26, 2003
By Sarah Foster
A world-renowned forensic pathologist with over 40 years experience as a medical examiner is challenging the official version of early events in the Terri-Schindler Schiavo case....Interviewed on the Fox News Channel, Dr. Michael Baden, co-director of the Investigative Unit of New York State Police in Albany and former chief medical examiner for New York City, ruled out potassium imbalance and a heart attack as factors in Terri's mysterious collapse 13 years ago – which left her severely incapacitated and unable to speak – and pointed to head trauma and bone injuries as a more likely cause.
Baden explained to host Greta van Susteren it was unlikely for a woman of Terri's age at the time to have a potassium imbalance, unless she had certain types of diseases, which she didn't have.
"Too little potassium can cause the heart to stop beating properly and lead to lack of blood flow to the brain and death of brain cells by lack of oxygen, but that's very unusual, Greta, extremely unusual," he said.
That Terri's heart was healthy would rule out the likelihood of cardiac arrest, he said.
"The reason she's in the state she's in is because there was a period of time, maybe five minutes or eight minutes, when not enough oxygen was going to her brain," said Baden. "That can happen because the heart stops for 5 or 8 minutes, but she had a healthy heart, from what we can see Baden said he studied a bone scan made in March 1991 at a rehabilitation facility that describes her as having a head injury: "That's why she's there, that's why she's getting a bone scan."
"A head injury can cause, can lead to the vegetative state that Ms. Schiavo is in now," he continued, adding the scan showed evidence of other injuries, bone fractures.....
I agree. That is supposedly the standard for all of our "good journalists," isn't it? Last night, I was in a discussion about what had been "common knowledge" about this case, and the consensus is that the MSM's role in this case is frightening. The amount of real research by them so far doesn't appear very extensive.
"Brave and intrepid" journalists are willing to break laws in order to tar .50 caliber rifles; "brave and intrepid" journalists are willing to blindside American soldiers for talking points; unfortunately, no "brave and intrepid" journalists seem willing to set the record straight about Terri Schiavo. This guy at least has enough of a soul to speak his doubts, which is more than I can say for most of them.
If those fractures were accumulated over the years it'd still cause pain and incapitate her activities. Especially the broken ribs. I can't imagine anyone moving around with a broken vertebate unnoticed.
that should read... if those fractures were hairline fractures accumulated over the years
Many people deny she is in a vegetative state.
But it may be too late. The Courts are a generally unflinching dictatorship.
Exactly. Another snap judgment made by an arrogant hack writer. Everything he cites in his "new" point of view has been on the record from the start. Why change his mind now? Because the careless schmuck just finally got around to looking past the headline and seeing what everyone else has been seeing for most of a year or more.
Hi, I do'nt know how to post but if anyone would like to donate money to Terris cause they can go to newsmax.com. We at freerepublic are a great bunch so lets help, Terri. thanks Faith
Whatever Greer may say about being "uncomfortable," is poppycock. Greer is obviously in deeply in love and [possibly] aroused [emotionaly] with the idear of literally being a God while in control of a human life - in this terrible case, literally.
What are you talking about??? It's been legal to kill children for decades. Um, I think the last name it was given was abortion. I read somewhere yesterday where some state is actually having to rewrite a law (or thinking about it) because a baby died outside the womb and still attached to the ambilical cord. I think the quesiton being posed was "is the baby self-sustaining or still part of the mother at that point?"!! Closest I've come to being ill... was thinking about what a liberal judge would do with that question... There are a lot of old people out there who had better stop worrying about Social Security and better start worrying about what is happening to this lady, because it WILL be them next... And like with the Nazis, look for the disabled to be targeted... Evil, Evil, Judge Greer...
Yet. And if Terri's case is allowed to set a precedent, they and some of our elderly better watch out because they're next.
http://newsfromthebackporch.blogspot.com
A Blog For Terri
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Link to other Blogs for Terri at
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Protect Terri from those who are trying to kill her.
If you decide to come before you do contact fight4terri@aol.com and she can fill you in on accomodations, etc.
"There are retarded children in public schools who are fastened into a wheelchair who respond about like Terry does. They don't threaten to kill them!"
Yes, and there are fully aware people who cannot eat food in a "normal" way. But as for your statement about killing these unfortunates, I think we need to add the word "Yet".
I have wondered for a long time why he does not just divorce Terri and legally have her parents respondible for her and clearly they want too. He then can go on with his life...does make me wonder if there is money there and if there is, that money should be used for her care...
Because Michael Schiavo probably knows more than he admits, and Terri knows, too. He can't risk Terri becoming well enough to tell what really happened the night she collapsed.
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