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>> The leading cause of death for young women is "unintentional injuries"...you know accidents.....think drinking and driving in that number. ;-) Followed closely by cancer and heart disease.

Yeah, I saw that little morbidity table too, but that only talks about deaths, not injuries. I said DV is the leading cause of death and injuries among young women. That's a different, more complicated question and you have to dig deeper. I don't remember my source, but the statement holds up very well.

“Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women,” states The American Institute on Domestic Violence. “Between 3 and 4 million women are battered each year... Women ages 20-34 endure the highest rates of domestic violence.”

A Department of Justice-sponsored study put the figure higher: "...approximately 4.9 million intimate partner rapes and physical assaults are perpetrated against U.S. women annually."

A Department of Justice study reports, “The highest rates of intimate violence affected women ages 16 to 24. Women age 16 to 19 and women age 20 to 24 had nearly identical rates of intimate victimization -- about 1 violent victimization for every 50 women.** 3 in 4 intimate violence victims are between ages 20 and 39.

** This is higher than the motor vehicle injury rate given for young women of similar age, which is about 1 in 57.

The Department of Justice (which has a whole department just for domestic violence) and the American Bar Association (which has a commission on domestic violence) both state similar estimates for violence against women.

(A range is usually given because surveys find, depending on types of violence, that one-half, two-thirds, or even four-fifths of domestic attacks on women are not reported to police. Lowest estimates, based on attacks actually reported, are about one million per year.)

All sources confirm that domestic (or so-called "intimate") violence is greatest against young women, and that men are eight to ten times more violent than women in a domestic relationship.

Female DV homicides, where their relationship with their assailant is known, are put at 3,000 per year, with 3/4 of them (2,250) among younger women (20-39), along with some unknown number of additional intimate homicides in unsolved murders. For females ages 20-29, motor vehicle accidents kill about 2,000 and injure about 350,000 each year. Cancer and heart disease, the big killers in later life, are still very low among young women (20-29), with about 2,500 deaths per year for BOTH diseases combined.

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Having said all this, let's get back to the sense of things. The argument is not whether domestic violence is #1 or #2. That doesn't make one bit of difference.

We are looking for the most likely cause of Terri Schiavo's so-called "collapse." For that, we compare the rate of domestic violence -- which is by all accounts high -- and the rate of near-fatal "collapse" due to "chemical imbalance," which is extremely rare among healthy young women (if it occurs at all).

Domestic violence is thus thousands of times more likely to have caused Terri's injuries than the "low potassium" scenario -- the only alibi for the only suspect, Michael Schiavo.

For all you folks who think that asking questions constitutes a dazzling argument, you ask, "Why didn't the emergency medics and ER staff find Terri's injuries?" The ABA Commission on domestic violence has the answer for you. It took note of shockingly bad DV investigation by emergency rooms:

-- the rate of domestic violence detection by emergency room doctors is low. Abbott et al., Domestic Violence Against Women: Incidence and Prevalence in an Emergency Department Population, Journal of the American Medical Association, vol.273, no. 22, 1763, 1766 (June 1995).

-- although battered women comprise 20 - 30% of ambulatory care patients, only 1 in 20 is correctly identified as such by medical practitioners. Hyman et al., Laws Mandating Reporting of Domestic Violence: Do They Promote Patient Well-Being?, Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 273, no. 22, 1781 (June 1995).

-- one study found that less than 3% of women visiting emergency rooms disclosed or were asked about domestic violence by a nurse or physician.

Moreover, there a well identified profile for the most likely perpetrators of intimate violence, and Michael fits its it a T.

A DOJ study concluded, "Violence perpetrated against women by intimates is often accompanied by emotionally abusive and controlling behavior. The survey found that women whose partners were jealous, controlling, or verbally abusive were significantly more likely to report being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked by their partners, even when other sociodemographic and relationship characteristics were controlled. Indeed, having a verbally abusive partner was the variable most likely to predict that a woman would be victimized by an intimate partner. These findings support the theory that violence perpetrated against women by intimates is often part of a systematic pattern of dominance and control.

Michael's former girl friend, Cindy Shook, in a sworn deposition, described him as mean, verbally abusive and a persistent stalker. She had to consider getting a restraining order; and to this day is frightened of him.

Friends reported that Michael was so controllng that he kept track of the odometer mileage to control Terri's use of the car. We've all discussed the sworn testimony that he flew into a rage at her the very day before her "collapse," for spending $80 to get her hair done. It rings true.

Friends, family and caregivers noted literally scores of instances of Michael's controlling -- and downright spiteful -- behavior toward Terri during her hospitalization. Just the fact that he wouldn't let her go shows that he's a control freak. He denied her treatment, he denied her needed therapies, he limited visitation, he kept her locked away in a small cheerless room for years -- wouldn't even let her sit out in the sun; he ordered that cards, flowers and religious medallions sent to her be thrown in a wastebasked by the hospice staff; he denied her holy communion, he denied her ice chips to ease her agony, and in the end, he killed her... cruelly. And then he burned her body, against her religious views.

We don't need to phone Columbo for this one.