Regardless of Autopsy, Wrong to Kill Terri Schiavo Priest Says
June 15, 2005
Clearwater, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A Catholic monk who was by Terri's family's side in the weeks leading up to her starvation and dehydration death told LifeNews.com that the autopsy results have no bearing on the immorality of euthanizing her.
Whatever led to Terri's collapse, "in the long run it doesn't matter," Brother Paul O'Donnell, a Franciscan monk who helped Bob and Mary Schindler, told LifeNews.com.
" We still do not have the right to kill someone regardless of their physical or mental condition," he said.
It concerned O'Donnell that the autopsy results placed so much emphasis on how Terri died.
"I think it's a matter of semantics to say whether she died of dehydration of starvation. Both are cruel and we're still killing a human being," he told LifeNews.com. "It was bogus to say Terri didn't suffer."
Commenting on the autopsy results released Wednesday by county medical examiner Dr. Jon Thogmartin, O'Donnell said he doesn't think they get rid of the concerns Terri's family ha that Terri may have been physically abused by her estranged husband Michael, leading to her 1990 collapse.
He disagreed with Thogmartin's assessment that medical officials looked into that possibility early on.
"The homicide unit never did anything," O'Donnell said. "You just done have a 20-something year-old woman collapse for no reason and not investigate that."
O'Donnell said he and the Schindler family still believes its possible that physical abuse led to Terri' collapse.
"They still believe there is enough circumstantial evidence that something happened to Terri that caused her to go into this condition," he told LifeNews.com.
"We don't know what happened," O'Donnell added. "But, Michael has given three separate accounts of how he found Terri and I know the family is very worried and has concerns."
O'Donnell also mentioned that Terri and Michael had severe arguments leading up to her collapse and he said it's possible that Terri suffered from emotional and psychological abuse.
O'Donnell, said the autopsy contradicts information that came to light earlier in the debate over Terri's condition.
"There was no evidence that Terri was bulimic," O'Donnell said. "It resonated with me that the whole malpractice lawsuit was based on a lie. And under that very premise, everything else that takes place could be a lie."
http://www.lifenews.com/bio1027.html
IT was wrong to kill her because her rights as an American Citizen had not been protected.
thanks for posting that. Keep me on your ping list, thanks. I regret that I did not get to meet you when I was down there -- perhaps next time. Take care.
I was deeply impressed at the eloquence of simple truths coming from Brother Paul. He is a wonderful credit to his order.
"It concerned O'Donnell that the autopsy results placed so much emphasis on how Terri died."
That's a no-brainer. She died from dehydration. And I wonder if she lost her sight from dehydration, too. After all, her eyes became so dry that she was bleeding from her eye sockets.
Hannity pointed out that she did not have a heart attack, nor did she show any signs of bulemia. That proves that the death trolls didn't have a clue about her-- except in their own minds.
Cause of collapse: not solved. That's a big question, isn't it? And not a word about her bone condition? Am I right about that? And as for dehyrdration of the brain, well I'm too much of a layman to discuss that. Someone on radio asked today what dehydration does to a brain. But regardless, if that tape was actually her voice, I don't care what the fluid level reportedly was.
And final, most important point: no witnesses allowed to monitor the autopsy. Why not? What was he hiding?