Spare Me the Indignation

National Review ^ | June 17, 2005 | Andrew McCarthy

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E.J. Dionne, Matt Lauer, and the rest f the mainstream media vanguard are in high dudgeon. The autopsy report is finally out on Terri Schiavo, and they want to know: Where is the apology? A better question would be: Are they kidding?

Let’s review the state of play at the time of Terri’s death, even as these revisionists reshape the history, as victors — no matter how inglorious their victories — surely get to do. There were two questions of critical import: Was Terri Schiavo in a persistent vegetative state (PVS), and had she really evinced a desire not to live if she were ever in such a state?

These questions were fundamental because the Supreme Court has recognized PVS as a point at which sustenance may permissibly be denied, and said that this decision may permissibly be communicated, but not made, by a surrogate. This is crucial because a person in a PVS is not dead. If she is to die, she must be killed. I know that is a terribly impolite way of putting it — especially for people like Mr. Dionne and Mr. Lauer, who are so studiously sensitive and enlightened about such matters. But that’s what has to happen: We have to kill her, or her life may go on for years.

[TigersEye]

I could have sworn I heard the autopsy doctor say she had been in a PVS.

Excerpts from Terri Schiavo Autopsy Report

Dr. Stephen Nelson, Neuropathologist, in a report contained within the autopsy report: "The persistent vegetative state and minimally conscious state are clinical diagnoses, not pathologic ones. ...

"Neurophysiologic examination alone of the decedent's brain - or any brain for that matter - cannot prove or disprove a diagnosis of persistent vegetative state or minimally conscious state".