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Being Had: Another Look at the Death of Terri Schiavo
Breakpoint with Chuck Colson ^ | 6/14/2006 | Chuck Colson

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.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: breakpoint
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To: backhoe

Thanks backhoe, you rock!


61 posted on 06/16/2006 6:17:15 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Try Jesus--If you don't like Him, satan will always take you back.)
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To: samtheman

Your point is well taken. However, the thing about the Terri trial that's scary is not that a woman who might have recovered was allowed to die, it's that half-remembered daced-old conversations were taken as equivalent to a solid living will. That's already scary stuff before you Add in the fact that this was done to keep her in the custody of a guardian who was unfit on several levels.


62 posted on 06/16/2006 6:18:53 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Try Jesus--If you don't like Him, satan will always take you back.)
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To: Guenevere
Where do you get off telling other Freepers to knock it off or go to bed....

It's called free speech, dear. Ever been at a baseball game and heard somebody say "Throw that bum out of the game?" Well, you can bet that fan is not under the delusion they've become a major league umpire, they are just expressing their opinion. I haven't suffered the delusion that I'm a mod, and using the phrase "knock it off" only has some magical signifcance if it comes from Jim or the mods.

Chuck Colson would never belittle & put down as you just did.

1. I never claimed to be nice. Of course, I never claimed to be a superior thinker either, so I guess it's a mixed bag.

2. I only "belittled" people who hate President Bush. Where did I belittle either MHG or Citizen Reporter?

3. After your crack about Holiday Inn Express, isn't this a little hypocritical of you? (See, it works both ways)

63 posted on 06/16/2006 6:32:20 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Try Jesus--If you don't like Him, satan will always take you back.)
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To: socialismisinsidious
I actually had a Liberal Loon tell me that Terri was given morphine to "keep the right wing happy".....very dangerous people.

Just when you think you've heard the dumbest thing ever uttered by a moonbat, something like that comes along.

Was this the guy you were talking too?


64 posted on 06/16/2006 6:37:10 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Try Jesus--If you don't like Him, satan will always take you back.)
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To: samtheman
The rest is fingernails growing on a corpse.

As the article points out, that's not necessarily true, and there was plenty of other evidence that there was somebody in there waiting to come back out. This is one example from an op-ed I wrote about terri last year:

A priest walks into a patient’s room on St. Patrick’s Day and offers to sing “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,”…in Polish.

Does that sound like a joke to you? It got a laugh out of Terri Schiavo.

Schiavo, as you’ve no doubt heard, is a patient at a hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida, who suffered brain damage after collapsing in 1990 and is the focus of a long court fight between her husband Michael and her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. Barring a legal win for the Schindlers, her feeding tube will be removed on the 18th. Michael claims she will never recover and would want the tube removed; she’d expressed worry about being a burden or living on a machine. The Schindlers say she’s been denied treatment, has a chance to recover, and would be no burden at all, because they’ll take care of her.

One of the Schindlers’ supporters is Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski, the Polish priest I mentioned. He filed an affidavit swearing (among other things) that Terri recognizes him, and that one Saint Patrick’s Day he really did walk into her room and offer to sing her an Irish diddy in Polish. Her response was to laugh. That’s a remarkable response from a person who supposedly is operating on little more than a brain stem, a “vegetative” person. Quick, go to the fridge and tell a cucumber a knock-knock joke! OK, did you get a laugh? I didn’t think so.

Of course, as I've said, the scary part isn't that someone who might have been rehabilitated has died. The scary part is the process that got us there.

65 posted on 06/16/2006 6:46:51 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Try Jesus--If you don't like Him, satan will always take you back.)
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To: Warthogtjm

I have to admit that, old and experienced and cynical though I am, I still get fooled by believing MSM reports. You absolutely can't even trust the page numbers unless you count them yourself...


66 posted on 06/16/2006 7:14:17 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (Do not accept a "truth" that comes without love, or a "love" that comes without truth. Edith Stein)
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To: isthisnickcool
"Jeb is a girl"

There's no reason for any female to accept that kind of insult. Sophie Scholl was a girl. Joan of Arc was a girl. Not to put her in exactly the same category, but criminy, Ann Coulter is a girl!

67 posted on 06/16/2006 7:19:36 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (Female-respecting female.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o
There's no reason for any female to accept that kind of insult. Sophie Scholl was a girl. Joan of Arc was a girl. Not to put her in exactly the same category, but criminy, Ann Coulter is a girl!

Hmm, you may have a point. OK, I'll change it to:

Jeb Bush is a shrubbery!

68 posted on 06/16/2006 7:24:55 AM PDT by isthisnickcool (What is it about "illegal" you don't understand?)
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To: tophat9000
Government law parsing definition of who is and is not a living "human being" is a scary way to live

Man, you got that right.

Try this one when you need some grim meditation: (

1) In Roe vs Wade, yhe USSC professed invincible ignorance as to "what is a human life"; and

2) In "Diamond vs. Chakrabarty," the USSC held that living, manmade genetically engineered organisms are ownable and patentable.

Roe + Diamond = you can genetically engineer human beings, patent them, and own them.

69 posted on 06/16/2006 7:30:57 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("If the Law supposes that," said Mr. Bumble, "the Law is an Ass,")
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To: Mr. Silverback
half-remembered daced-old conversations were taken as equivalent to a solid living will.

That is so true. Around the time that Terri was killed my husband and I got a lower mortgage rate....we had to sign in front of a notary in 9 different places and all we were doing was saving ourselves money.
70 posted on 06/16/2006 8:21:09 AM PDT by socialismisinsidious ( The socialist income tax system turns US citizens into beggars or quitters!)
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To: Mr. Silverback
Well gee, Silverback, if it's free speech...:^
71 posted on 06/16/2006 8:24:17 AM PDT by Guenevere
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To: Mr. Silverback; TigersEye; Jim Robinson
How could governor Bush have stepped in to stop the killing of Terri, legally? It's simple really.

As governor, he has the power to suspend or halt a miscarriage of justice and order a more thorough review. He can even pardon a convicted criminal awaiting death, if he so chooses.

Terri's 'collapse' was never adequately investigated, never. The proceedings in which Terri was shuffled from one guardian to another, without thorough review of either medical realities, court proceedings, or the recommendations of guardians was never adequately addressed in oversight.

The same judge who gave the orders to put Terri down like a stray pound dog appointed himself her guardian at a point in past proceedings, and released her trust funded assets to pay the lawyer of the man trying to have her put to death.

No thorough review of Terri's medical progression/digression during her disability was ever undertaken, to determine if she was losing abilities and why ... and there is clear video record of just such strange loss of abilities.

And finally, never was a law enforcement investigation done to find out whether Terri's adulterous husband was abusing her with neglect and or chemical abuse, even though there is substantial sworn testimony that he was and the medical history proves he was forcing neglect upon her! One poster above stated tht 'the girl was no longer there' ... yet earlier video proves she 'was there' prior to the court awarded monies to her and her husband. THAT gave the governor of Florida the legal power to suspend the killing and get the investigations done in a timely fashion, before the disabled person was put down and the issues became moot to the state of Florida.

Frankly, after watching the entire sickening episode unfold, I'm now convinced that governor Bush played politics and then adopted a feckless posture when he didn't get the political leverage he desired, sacrificing Terri Schiavo to avoid political fallout from media ghouls and democrat sleaze mongers. And yes, it worked because we have blind partisans defending his feckless inaction and he got reelected, wheee.

If the governor of a state will not protect the disabled in his state with the powers vested in his office, I won't even drive through such a state and I will discourage anyone in my family to avoid the state like it is plague inflicted.

72 posted on 06/16/2006 8:47:18 AM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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Should read, 'I will discourage anyone in my family from visiting the state.' Been successful so far ...


73 posted on 06/16/2006 8:48:59 AM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: Mr. Silverback

Certainly her husband had no compelling reason to deny her parents to take over her care. If, indeed (as I believe), she really was already dead, what would be the harm in letting the parents take care of the still breathing body? Only a real low-life would have denied them that.


74 posted on 06/16/2006 9:18:02 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: Mr. Silverback
Of course, as I've said, the scary part isn't that someone who might have been rehabilitated has died.

It is also scary, and disgusting, that anyone can suggest with a straight face that the right to live would hang on the prerequisite that rehabilitation (to what standard?) is possible. (in whose opinion?)

What are the odds that anyone over the age of fifty will ever be rehabilitated to the state of health and vitality that they enjoyed at 25? Would anyone age 25 or younger say that they would want to live if their quality of life was degraded to a point far below what they now have? Should the opinion of a fifty yr old count? after all his/her faculties have slowed down to a point where they can't really assess what it's like to live like a 25 yr old anymore. Isn't it cruel to hold out the hope to old folks that their life can ever be like it was again? /s

75 posted on 06/16/2006 12:13:25 PM PDT by TigersEye (Are your parents Pro-Choice? I guess you got lucky! ... Is your spouse?)
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To: MHGinTN
You've got it right. Those who throw the rhetorical IED of "Bush bashing" don't impress me. I support and defend conservative views and positions that stand for truth, ethics and the value of life. I don't bend over and grab my ankles for anyone. Those who take positions of authority should be accountable for their actions and inactions in accordance with the amount of authority they hold.

Beyond that; criticism of a particular person's actions is not an abandonment of the agenda unless the agenda is just power for its own sake. I'll let the libs take that path. It's the path to certain failure in the long run no matter what your goals are.

76 posted on 06/16/2006 12:40:54 PM PDT by TigersEye (Are your parents Pro-Choice? I guess you got lucky! ... Is your spouse?)
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To: Mr. Silverback
Cross-referencing bump.
77 posted on 06/16/2006 1:25:43 PM PDT by TigersEye ("Where there is life there is hope!" - Terri Schiavo-Schindler)
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To: MHGinTN
The Governor of Florida is a feckless politician who allowed Terri to be murdered because he lacked the spine of a Christian man to step in and stop the evil. And he could have stopped it legally but he was too afraid of the political fallout from the liberal lickspittle media to do the right thing. Does that sound like I'm still disgusted with Gov. Bush? Well, it's worse than that.

I agree 100%. It was politically expedient to let Terri be killed by the death-cult. Such executive nonfeasance has a precedent in history:


78 posted on 06/16/2006 1:31:22 PM PDT by Antoninus (I don't vote for liberals -- regardless of party.)
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To: Mr. Silverback
Thanks backhoe, you rock!

GTBOS
glad to be of service

79 posted on 06/16/2006 3:16:17 PM PDT by backhoe (-30-)
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To: Mr. Silverback
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.

I didn't ask whether you were buying anything. I actually wondered whether anyone noticed whether the autopsy determined that she needed pain medication or whether the autopsy only said that she had it whether she needed it or not. I don't have an opinion on what the correct answer is. I only see a point that is vague and could be exploited by demagogues on either side.

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.

Again, if the parts of the brain that would be aware of pain were no longer working, then being denied food and water would not cause pain. This point brings us back to my original question. Was there evidence that her brain damage was severe enough that she no longer felt pain regardless of whether they gave her morphine? I'm not asking what either side thought. I'm asking what the evidence showed.

Bill

80 posted on 06/16/2006 4:31:08 PM PDT by WFTR (Liberty isn't for cowards)
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