The autopsy of Terri Schiavo has been released. The key findings of the report reveal that Terri Schiavo had not been abused, she had irreversible brain damage, and she was blind.
As I suspected, this vindicates Michael Schiavo, who had been accused of so many terrible things. Michael Schiavo had been so vilified by groups and people who supported keeping Terri Schiavo alive it was disturbing. Here we are now, and it is clear that allegations that Michael abused Terri Schiavo and that he had feared she’d one day wake up and report him… all of that was bogus.
Also interesting is this information that Terri Schiavo was blind. I don’t know when this blindness would have occured, but it certainly calls into question the parents claims of Terri’s responsiveness to visual stimuli. We all saw those videos of her following a balloon… So were they moving the balloon to follow Terri’s movements? Maybe so.
Scott from Slant Point sees this as vindication for Michael Schiavo also. I’m glad I’m not the only one. I’m buying Scott a beer when I visit New York again.
William at Pardon My English hopes now the case will forever be closed.
I hope so too, but I’m not counting on it. I expect accusations of falsification, distortion, or suppression of information will be made… which would be unfortunate. The two sides of this case have largely fallen on partisan lines, and it’s disappointing to see my fellow conservatives acting like liberals who lose elections, making ridiculous accusations of conspiracies amongst other things. It’s time to let this case go.
UPDATE: No real comment from Blogs For Terri, but they certainly had time to write a pre-buttal.
UPDATE II: Suddenly, the autopsy doesn’t matter anymore…
UPDATE III: Blogger Michael King agrees with me… And has this to say about the case:
I got called all kinds of names, up to and including “Nazi” over my stance in this case, by all sorts of people, including some who I had the greatest bit of respect for. I felt the US Congress had no business getting involved, and after Terri Schiavo died, I insisted (as I do today) that no one “won” in this sad, sordid matter.
I absolutely agree with him, and I have to say, I got attacked by some of my political allies for my views on the case as well.
UPDATE IV: La Shawn and I disagree.
didjman: Their argument is totally dishonest, and I suspect the “culture-of-lifers” know it. I’m sure it goes without saying that the second a vegetative patient actually shows signs of “organ failure,” they will demand immediate aggressive medical treatment, and accuse you of “murder” and worse if you repeat their “everyone should be kept alive until organ failure” mantra back to them.
Their argument that giving Terri a lethal injection would have been “better” than allowing her to die of dehydration, is similarly bogus.
Matt: You’re right and LaShawn is wrong. Not only that, LaShawn is a coward. When I responded to allegations in an article referenced in another comment, she deleted my response. When I asked why she would delete my response without deleting the comment to which I was responding, she deleted my question. I love watching wingnuts implode on contact with reality.
La Shawn is not a coward. I’ve met La Shawn, and respect what she does. I may not agree with all her views, but I respect her views. I also believe that she wouldn’t delete comments unless they were obnoxiously rude and/or included profanity. I would guess you might have a different story, so I’m not going to debate that.
Michael Shaivo was conflicted. Morally he gave up his rights to Terri when he moved on to another woman. He was within his rights under Florida law to do what he did. That was the basis of the entire conflict. He should have given Terry back to her family the morning after he slept with someone else. This conflict didn’t have to happen.
Matt: LaShawn can do what she wants with her blog, of course, but my responses were no more obnoxious than her calling both of us “death-culturists” at the top of her main post. She lowered the bar, not I, and if others call her out on her needless insults, and those of her other guests, she has only herself to blame.
Around The ‘Sphere June 17, 2005
Links are from sites with varying viewpoints. Opinions expressed do not necessarily express the views of TMV or its co-bloggers.
Around The ‘Sphere June 17, 2005
Links are from sites with varying viewpoints. Opinions expressed do not necessarily express the views of TMV or its co-bloggers.
Oh, nevermind
Is Bill Frist channeling Ernestine? You decide!
Yo, guess what — Governor Jeb Bush has pressured some overworked prosecutor to investigate…get this…the alleged time gap between Michael Schiavo finding Terri collapsed and his calling 911 back in 1990.
Read it and hurl: http://www.stcynic.com/blog/
Raging Bee, I read that this morning. He’s apparently having a hard time swallowing the fact that Michael Schiavo did not abuse his wife.
It’s really pathetic. I wish these psychos would let the poor woman rest in peace, without trying to use her for political gain.
I don’t know why Jeb is pursuing this anymore…
Carrotsnapper, Michael Schiavo DID give Terry to her parents. They gave her back after two weeks.
The video of Mrs. Schindler moving the ballon around in front of Terry is only a snippet where Terry’s random eye movements and the ballon sync up. The rest of the time they don’t apparently.
Jay, what really bothers me about that whole video thing, is that that balloon snippet was selected out of hours and hours of video… and there’s a good chance that she was probably blind at the time… so in my view, the parents were trying to manipulate public opinion by release fake evidence that Terri was responsive.
Someone posted on LaShawn’s blog (#80) that he had allowed his father to die because of the progression of his Alzheimer’s — and LaShawn explicitly condoned the decision (#81)! Not only that, she even said she would not want to be kept alive under such circumstances. Then, having explicitly condoned decisions such as Michael’s, she fell back on insisting that Michael had no credibility, due, of course, to all those totally made-up allegations that somehow kept on resurfacing on blogs like hers! The hypocricy is simply laughable.
I love the smell of imploding wingnuts in the afternoon…
Matt, you are surmising what most of us have. I think Terry Schiavo was/is a cash cow for the religious right. Her parents sold the mailing lists of all those who sent them donations to groups like Focus On the Family and AFA. Randall Terry crawled out from whatever rock he’s been hiding under to try to give her water (she couldn’t swallow, if he gave her water she’d drown!). My own Senator Rick Santorum was down there mugging for the cameras and managed to raise $100,000 cash for himself.
Matt,
What’s your response to the writing on Terri’s tombstone? (I assume it was written by her adulterous husband, Michael.)
Well, just because I believe that Michael Schiavo did not abuse his wife and that he was wrongfully villified, doesn’t mean I think he didn’t handle some things incorrectly.
Matt;
Michael Schiavo got away with murder, period!
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I worked for a couple of years at a state school for the mentally retarded (what it was called then). There were many non-responsive patients who received direct care that included feeding tubes and physical therapy. I’m sure they had no living will. They definitely had no money – no future – only the present. I can’t imagine at the time someone taking a look at them and deciding that these people probably preferred death and therefore food and water would be withheld so that they could die by starvation and dehydration.
How times have changed in twenty years.
By the way, it is not legal to do this to puppies. It is considered inhumane.
oh, yes…Michael has been vindicated.
woo hoo – high five.
Stay healthy. Don’t become disabled and unable to speak for yourself. Someone will speak for you. You do prefer to die, right?
The people who talk like #70 are the same people who have living wills of their own so that they won’t have to go on like Terri, but it’s okay for Terri to exist like that. So, are we committing suicide by having living wills?
#72 is under the illusion propogated by the media blab that a living will cleans up the decision making surrounding one’s death. If you’ve ever even had a traffic stop, you would know that any legal statement is still widely open to interpretation at every level of decision making.
This case placed on the American conscience the permission to deny food and water to the disabled.
I hope #71 will always be conscious during any incapacity so he/she can interpret his/her living will to all those concerned.