Posted on 06/15/2005 9:33:30 PM PDT by annalex
Pinellas Park, FL - Jun 15, 2005 The autopsy report for Terri Schiavo was released today and revealed no new details that could have morally justified her court-ordered killing by dehydration.
Although the autopsy report indicated no signs of strangulation or other abuse, as Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler had suspected, it also found no signs of an eating disorder, as her husband, Michael, had insisted.
"Whatever the extent of Terri's disability, she did not deserve the death penalty," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. Operation Rescue was one of a group of pro-family/pro-life organizations that sponsored prayer vigils outside the hospice where Terri eventually died, and worked to save her life through appeals to legislators and judges. "If a person's disability can somehow become a crime punishable by death, then we should all be concerned about our future and the future of our posterity. To allow Terri to be cared for by her loving family would have been to affirm the value of all life, no matter how imperfect. But instead the courts chose to devalue life by ending Terri's, and we are all less safe today because if it."
About Operation Rescue
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian organizations in the nation. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to restore legal personhood to the pre- born and stop abortion in obedience to biblical mandates.
Website: http://www.operationrescue.org
Operation Rescue
Troy Newman
President
phone: 316-841-1700
Cheryl Sullenger
Spokesperson
phone: 316-516-3034
Please, ping at your discretion.
theachoressonline.com
By: TheAnchoress @ 8:57 pm
Terri Schiavo and Deatheater Glee
Filed under: Culture of Life/Death, Terri Schiavo
So, the Terri Schiavo’s autopsy report came out. And it told us very little that was new. She was in a bad way. Her cortex was not “mush” or a “sack of fluid” but her brain was severely damaged. She was blind. Her brain was shrivelled. Hello? The woman was totally dehydrated and yes, when you are dehydrated your brain will shrink.
I haven’t read anyone, anywhere, who has written down that simple fact.
The autopsy confirmed what no one denied: Terri Schiavo was in bad shape. She was severely brain damaged.
The autopsy did NOT tell us many things. It does not explain if the damage to her brain which defined her as “blind” was damage which occured during dehydration. It does not tell us if therapy, denied to her for 12 years, might have helped her maintain what brain function she had been capable of, ‘way back then. The autopsy does not explain why a woman who was not on life support and was capable of breathing on her own and swallowing her own saliva (and if nurses are to be believed, pudding and soft food) was being fed by a tube, in the first place.
It does not answer the question of what, exactly happened to Terri Schiavo to cause such massive brain damage. It does not tell us if she was, as conventional wisdom insists, “bulimic.” It doesn’t tell us why broken wheelchairs were never fixed, why nurses who put washcloths into Terri’s hand would have them smacked out of her hand by a husband who would warn, “that is therapy.”
The autopsy doesn’t explain why a husband can get away with suddenly “remembering” that his wife “once” mentioned (while watching a sad movie) that she’d never want to be on life support, remembering it some 6 years after the brain accident occured. It does not explain why the absence of written instructions was not compelling, or why written instructions were not needed for courts to rule that a woman who was not dying, was in no danger of dying, had no fatal disease, was apparently not suffering, and who had loving family members willing to care for her NEEDED TO BE DEAD.
I have no doubt that the mainstream press, which didn’t go out of its way to make fine distinctions when reporting on Schiavo’s case in April, will again embrace generalities and will repeat (ad nauseum) whatever autopsy statements it deems “most worthy” of reporting, or “most damaging” to those annoying fundy Christians and Catholics (and a few liberals like Ralph Nader and others).
And of course, if they can snark about the Bush brothers or any GOP politico in the meantime, they won’t mind doing that. Democrats sympathetic to Terri’s case will not be mentioned or bothered for statements, and the world’s foremost Democrat, Hillary Clinton, who was never asked her opinion of the matter while the story burned its hottest, and who managed to lie very low and stay away from the whole issue, will not be asked anything, either.
In other words, the world will go on as usual. Terri Schiavo didn’t have a life you or I would want…but it was her life, and it was taken from her, and not even by the fast, compassionate means by which we execute murderers. A woman who was not brain dead, not fatally injured and not dying is dead, really, for no good reason, and the battle between the Culture of Life and the Deatheaters goes on.
What the Autopsy of Terri Schiavo tells us with enormous lucidity is that the Deatheaters appetites have been whetted. With the release of this report which - as I say - tells us almost nothing we didn’t know, the Deatheaters are not simply feeling vindicated, they are feeling victorious…not just victorious but…gleeful.
It seems to me that when an innocent life has been snuffed out, that is not, perhaps, a time for glee. Quite possibly it is a normal thing, in some circles, to celebrate the destruction of life and then move on to the next battle or party or “pressing issue.” To my way of thinking, when a world has ended, respectful silence is in order, as are time for remembering, and prayers for regretting where we have fallen short.
The news of this woman’s deplorable brain damage makes her death seem right and justified to them, they are all but dancing about it. For them, this is a defeat for the president, for Christians, for pesky right-to-lifers.
It is a “win” for…personal autonomy, supposedly. If, by personal autonomy, you mean being unable to speak for yourself and at the mercy of a husband who suddenly recalls what you supposedly wanted…maybe…and is more willing to see you die than err on the side of life and maybe let your family take care of you. If that’s what you mean by personal autonomy and personal choice, well, then…yes, it’s a win.
But it is a win by which we all lose.
There is little new in Terri Schiavo’s autopsy report. But the salivating, overt, belly-shaking glee of the Deatheaters, that might be new.
Or…it might be old as hell.
She did not deserve the death penalty
I have heard over and over today that the report supports her husband's decision. And each time I ask myself...what, did they find her written directive during the autopsy.
Neil Boortz is pro-abortion, too, and belittles pro-lifers. I stopped listening to his show.
bump
Great post.
Thanks for the post.
"Extreme" pro-Life bump!
Good post. What else can I say?
Maybe this: imagine a criminal case. Police enter an apartment, a gunfight ensues, and the tenant is killed. It comes out that there was suspected drug activity in the apartment, but there are substantial questions as to whether the police were authorized to come in. Let's even assume a judge was involved (as in the Schiavo case), but there are troubling questions about the policemen's motivations and their relationship with the judge. Questions have also been raised about the judge's conduct and "politics."
Would it matter much to the many "civil libertarians" who would no doubt flock to the case whether drugs were, after the shootout, found in the apartment, and how much? Of course not.
Good point.
Everyone knew she was in bad shape. The husband's testimony regarding Terri's wishes should not have been believed. If this is how we're going to treat everyone in this condition (or purported to be in this condition), then we indeed are in trouble.
Flippant comment of the day: Michael Schiavo is a real creep. Although it's not a choice I'd like to have to make, I would probably let Michael Jackson babysit my son before letting Michael Schiavo marry my daughter. Worst come to worst, the son would still be alive! I told you it was flippant . . .
The reason the autopsy press conference had better coverage than the killing itself was that those in power want to establish the precendent: if you are sufficiently sick, you may be killed.
We are in trouble indeed.
Yep.
On another thread it was reported that Terri was not given anything more than aspirin for her pain while being starved to death. It is routine to give people in her situation morphine to relieve pain after the feeding tube is removed. The whole thing was barbaric from start to finish. You couldn't do this to a dog or cat without being charged with abuse and neglect.
The public is so revolted at what Terri suffered they will clamor for a quick overdose as their Final Solution rather than go what she went through. The pro-Death people will use her death to manipulate public sentiment in favor of "efficiency". Why waste money on therapy, medical research, nursing homes, and caregivers when a quick shot in the arm saves all that bother?
Watch the Left make a campaign issue out of the woman the state starved*
*Well technically it was court ordered dehydration.
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