However:
Posted on 06/15/2006 7:44:45 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback
Recently, I told you about Michael Schiavo’s new book, Terri: The Truth. I compared reading the book to “falling down Alice’s rabbit hole and ending up in a new and bizarre world.” This world is “a scary place” where “survival of the fittest” is taken to a whole new level—a world that Christians must never stop fighting against.
Now, I stand by everything that I said about Michael Schiavo’s book, but there’s something that I said about his late wife that I need to take back. I’m embarrassed, not only because of the mistake I made, but also because I was had and should have known better.
In the earlier commentary I said that “the autopsy showed that [Terri] had been brain-dead.” This “finding” did not affect my belief that it was wrong to take her life. My concern from the beginning was with the process we followed and its implications for the sanctity of human life.
My calling Terri “brain-dead” was based on what the media said about the autopsy. For instance, MSNBC began its report this way: “an autopsy on Terri Schiavo backed her husband’s contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state . . .”
Well, I should have known better than to take the media’s word. Terri’s brother, Bobby Schindler, thanked me for the commentary but drew my attention to what the autopsy report actually said.
That report said that there was no evidence that Terri suffered, as had been widely reported, from an eating disorder. The medical examiners were unable to determine what caused the heart attack that left her brain-damaged.
Damaged, not dead. In fact, the autopsy report referred to her receiving morphine, which would not have been necessary if she were brain-dead or in a persistent vegetative state. The report, while it noted “severe brain damage,” said nothing about Terri being in a persistent vegetative state.
What’s more, persistent vegetative state is a clinical diagnosis, made through observation and, as such, is a matter of interpretation. So reports like MSNBC’s were, at best, highly misleading. If she had not been deliberately starved, Terri, in the estimate of the medical examiner, “could have lived easily for another decade . . .”
As bioethicist C. Ben Mitchell puts it, the autopsy confirmed “our worst fears.” Terri didn’t die from any illness but “at the hands of her husband and his lawyers.”
As I said, I’m embarrassed about this mistake, but more than that I am angry. It’s not enough that the legal process sentenced her to death, but the media deliberately or negligently got the circumstances of both her life and her death wrong.
As a result, the “culture of death” has taken several steps forward. Instead of giving life the benefit of the doubt, we are all-too-ready to choose death. As Mitchell said, “Terri Schiavo should be alive today and in the loving embrace of her parents.” Instead, she has become a symbol of the “scary place” our culture is headed: a place where everybody is on the lookout for signs of death, not life. And as for those who defended Terri Schiavo and have been pilloried in the media, well, in the cold light of day, we now know we were right after all.
Did the autopsy report say that she needed morphine for pain management or only that she was receiving morphine? Maybe medical science still can't draw a conclusion either way on that question. In that case, erring on the side of pain relief is reasonable even if doctors don't know whether the patient an feel pain. However, if that's the case, the prescence of morphine is not an indicator of brain function.
Bill
I work with the Developmentally Disabled community. One of my clients, a 25 year old named Darrin, walks around. He doesn't talk, but he likes to grab your hands and make them clap. When he's happy, he makes happy, cooing sounds. He likes the color red. He also has to wear adult diapers, and he drools constantly. He can't wash himself, and he can't feed himself. He has a PEG tube and all of his meals have to be blended until they are the consistency of applesauce, at which point the direct care staff at his group home has to feed him, because he can't do it himself.
He is no brain-dead, but he is brain damaged. As I see it, the main difference between him and Terri is that he doesn't have a judge hell-bent on killing him.
OK, hold on a minute. A hospice and thewoman's husband spend the better part of a decade "proving" to a court of law that there's nobody home, but they have to err on the side of caution when it comes to pain? Sorry, not buying it.
Never mind the ludicrous idea the Felos crowd was putting out that she would not feel any pain while being denied water, food and comfort measures.
Deal with it, baby. If christians have to deal with the Crusades and Torqmada, you guys get to pick up the check for this stuff. Name me a "bioethicist" who wants to kill the useless eaters and isn't a committed evolutionist.
Please see post 28, anfd then you knock it off. MHG is not one of the reflexive bushbashing dipsticks polluting this site of late, and should not be treated as one. He is a fine example of a freeper.
Sorry, read MHG again. He is precisely that. I can agree with the position on the issue, but he lays the blame at the wrong place.
MHG reminds me of the pedestrian who walks in front of my car, and then want to sue me for hitting him.
Posting one criticism (even if it is a rather harsh one) against Jeb Bush does not make on ethe same as the legions of rabid bush haters who act like DUers. I stand by my statement. Go to bed.
Thanks for your comments, and I will "go to bed", when I choose to.
That's like putting Ann Coulter in the Jersey Girls fan club. I've been going after Bushbashers with a knife in my teeth for years now. I defended MHG, not Bushbasing, because his comments about Jeb were the exception, not the rule.
Thanks for your comments, and I will "go to bed", when I choose to.
I hope your sense of humor returns after a good night's sleep.
bump to the truth
Ping
In a manner of speaking, the investigation is ongoing -- here, in Free Republic. So, keep your interest in the case, and help keep the pressure on all concerned. There are a lot of people with blood on their hands in this case. If even one person "breaks" on some key point, it could have a sensational effect on the others.
You are right to say "alleged" collapse. That very word, "collapse," is Michael's only cover now. He has no alibi, but the MSM keep talking about her "collapse" -- a term that makes him seem innocent. He isn't innocent.
However:
-Useless Eaters vs The Death Cult--
various FR links & stories | 03-29-05 | the heavy equipment guy
...kisss some big behinds....Really.
I'm was in the heart of this during Terri's prolonged death, with tears and prayers....
..but to blame Bush is just wrong.
Can you imagine a Lawton Chiles, or Bob Graham doing half what Jeb did?????
I'm a long time FLoridian.....We've seen our governors come and go....
***and oh, don't forget about her illustrious (sarcasm~)..Senator Nelson who never met an abortion he didn't like..***
.We appreciate our Jeb!
..Only moderators or Jim have that authority.
Just because you started this thread doesn't mean you can direct everyone's thinking.
I too disagreed with the other poster about his attitude and words on Jeb.
Are you really a Chuck Colson fan?....or did you just spend a night in a Holiday Inn?
Chuck Colson would never belittle & put down as you just did.
Her parents should have been allowed to take over her care. They were willing and able. To deny them that was wrong.
However, the girl was dead. In the most meaningful medical, clinical and spiritual sense. The girl was dead. No brain function. The rest is fingernails growing on a corpse.
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