The Schiavo Autopsy Results: Terri Dailies July 6

Accuracy in Media-Media Monitor ^ | July 6, 2005 | Cliff Kincaid

[8mmMauser]

Several bloggers have drawn attention to a strange lead in a Washington Post story about the Terri Schiavo autopsy results. The June 16 Post story by David Brown said that "Terri Schiavo died of the effects of a profound and prolonged lack of oxygen to her brain on a day in 1990, but what caused that event isn't known and may never be, the physician who performed her autopsy said…"

[malakhi]

which is maybe why most people think judges are crooks.

Oh, and I don't suppose you have anything to substantiate this other than your own assertion?

[floriduh voter]

That is not my page. Nice try. Judge Greer should be impeached. He made history and not in a good way.

[malakhi]

People in the county of death, Pinellas in the Starvation State of Florida, conspired to murder Terri and then there were the coverups. Don't twist my words.

No need to twist your words. You do a fine job expressing your views all on your own, and I'm sure people give you all the credibility you deserve.

[exDemMom]

The court ruled that it was Terri's wish not to remain alive under those circumstances.

It made this ruling based on absolutely zero evidence.

I sure as heck don't want someone arbitrarily deciding that I want to die, without having some input into the matter.

[malakhi]

Does that mean that you deduct your expenses for food and hydration as part of your medical deduction on your tax returns?

I am able to ingest my food and hydration orally. Are you?

[BykrBayb]

DUers like the word conspiracy. Let them have it.

[malakhi]

It made this ruling based on absolutely zero evidence.

On the contrary, the court ruled that there was clear and convincing evidence, based upon the testimony of MS and others. And the appeals court explicitly agreed.

[TheWriterInTexas]

I think that the largest barrier people have in this case is the level of credibility of the players.

The sticking point for many people is this:

Prior to the lawsuit, Michael was the devoted spouse who was going to school to become a nurse so that he could care for his wife in her condition. The point in bringing the suit was to provide sufficient funds to care for Terri for the rest of her life.

It was only after the lawsuit did Michael and other members of his family recall that Terri would not have wanted to live this way. Oddly enough, she had been "living this way" for several years before they had this collective recollection.

Now, if Michael had made the statement a few months, or even a year after Terri came into her incapacitated state and testing and therapy had made no impact, I think more people would have found it credible. Based on his own notes, Michael indicated that Terri was making progress; this was submitted as part of the journal used in the lawsuit.

If he made those wishes known before the lawsuit and had worked out something with the family to care for Terri, events would not have unfolded as they did. Granted, Michael may have received a portion of the settlement either way (he was granted a sum of $300K, if I recall correctly), but the bulk of the settlement would have gone where it was intended, to Terri's care - not to the legal battle to remove her tube.

Some folks would look at the sequence of events and call that peculiar. Some folks would find it implausible that the collective memory of Terri's supposed "expressed wishes" would only surface after the lawsuit was finalized, not during the long months of struggling preceeding the lawsuit, and this belief would only be shared by Michael and members of his immediate family.

That, I propose, is the cornerstone of distrust that many have for Michael. Others who have followed this case more closely than myself may have other reasons for distrust that are built on this cornerstone, but IMHO, this is the basis for it.

If Terri's family also believed she would not have wanted to live that way, then her tube would have been quietly removed and her name would not be part of the American dialogue, no matter her condition.

I personally have no disagreement with anyone refusing medical care, or refusing life-sustaining treatment if it means a life of such diminished capacity that the person considers ultimately unacceptable; that is the individual's right. I do, however, have a disagreement with this case, as I have trouble finding Michael's statements credible on this particular, but essentially critical, point.

This is not about whether anyone on FR would want to live like this; it is about whether Terri would have wanted to live like this. No one had a right to make that determination for her; the court was charged with gleaning what HER determination would be, if SHE could voice it.

Perhaps I am being cynical, but my opinion is this: Michael had a financial motivation to keep Terri alive through the lawsuit, as financial judgments tend to be higher if the victim in the case is living. Upon receiving the award by the court, Michael now the financial motivation to hasten her death, as her spouse, he would receive the remainder of the trust fund upon her demise; hence, the "recollection."

I also find it disconcerting that funds set aside to be used for Terri's therapeutic care were diverted to pay for attorneys to hasten her death.

Just my 2 Cents.

[floriduh voter]

Your 213 is so true. The Pope was very ill but he was writing at least twice daily through his aides to Jeb Bush and to President Bush to save Terri. Judge Greer held all hostage. Pinellas County is the true capital of the United States. The fat cat republicans are from here.

[Earthdweller]

Yes there are good guys on our side..unlike the likes of the American Medical Association who want to do away with presumption of life.

(click above to view excerpt source)

"Beware the Slippery Slope"

by Christian Medical Association Senior Policy Analyst Jonathan Imbody.

"I interviewed Dutch citizen Henk Reitsema, who related how his beloved grandfather, a cancer patient, naively asked a nursing home doctor in Groningen for relief of a painful thrombosis in his leg. The "compassionate" Dutch physician, trained in a medical culture that has promoted euthanasia more aggressively than palliative care, instead withheld food and water from Grandpa Reitsema while administering lethal doses of morphine."

"Family members discovered the deadly plan too late, and their beloved grandfather died at the hands of a physician who deemed his life not worth living. News media eventually uncovered records suggesting that the nursing home had pursued a diabolical "bed-clearing" policy of involuntary euthanasia."

*snip*

"Americans would do well to examine how the Dutch euthanasia and assisted suicide model has falsely promoted libertarianism and patient autonomy while granting doctors virtually unchecked power over life and death. Physicians today can draw from the highest technological advances in pain relief to provide effective consolation to suffering patients, yet past restrictions have chilled aggressive use of this pain technology. The answer to suffering near the natural end of life is not to empower doctors to kill, but to empower them to ethically and compassionately comfort their patients."

[candeee]

What does that have to do with the price of eggs in china? Are food and hydration medical or not? Keep in mind, that Greer ordered Terri starved/dehydrated to the death (not just to have her feeding tube removed).

[exDemMom]

If you don't meet their test of humanity, you're dead. It's frightening. Who's next on the list?

The tens of thousands in this country who have mental capacities comparable to Terri's prior to her murder, who are now living in institutions where they receive medical care and therapy--even in cases where such efforts are useless--at taxpayer expense. Defining Terri as less than human, and thereby needing to be killed, is a step towards eliminating all of the retarded--and, after them, why not all the physically helpless, who might have normal intelligence but their bodies are useless? Then we should wipe out anyone with any kind of disability--those disabled are a big drain on our resources, very expensive, the money could be better spent elsewhere.

[floriduh voter]

No, Judge Greer is an incompetent judge but perfect as a point man against the disabled. The judges in Florida have bought into the culture of death - it had nothing to do with his poor past record.

Got it? They were all protecting the status quo which is to push the euthanasia agenda even though it is ILLEGAL in the State of Florida. This is an AGENDA and it kills innocent people. The ACLU, the atheists of Florida and so on have lots of money. Both parties will take their money.

[BykrBayb]

How does that make you more worthy? If a judge ordered your nutrition and hydratation withheld, would you still support a judge's right to make that decision, or do you only agree when it's someone else they're lording their power over?

[floriduh voter]

Most people do think that judges are crooks. Look at the Supreme Court ruling that private property can be sold to other interests to make bigger govt. thru taxes. Talk about a non-conservative idea to pay people less than market value and push them off their land. Judges are elitist crooks, definitely the Pinellas County Judges, Florida Judges and hey, Ruth Bader Ginsberg was the pres of the aclu. Do you like that? You are siding with the aclu if you think Michael is a saint. LOL Gotcha. You can't possibly be a conservative and be on the same side as the aclu who bankrolled Terri's murder.

[Miss Behave]

Being *Greered* pushed its way into our lexicon...it broke and entered through the rear.

[exDemMom]

On the contrary, the court ruled that there was clear and convincing evidence, based upon the testimony of MS and others.

This supports what I just said, that there was no evidence that Terri herself wanted to die. To say that it was Terri's wish because it was Michael's wish is to say that she was no more than a piece of property. And I'm not impressed that a judge who would agree with Michael adjudicated this case. There are corrupt judges everywhere.

[floriduh voter]

[Earthdweller]

"...is a step towards eliminating all of the retarded--and, after them, why not all the physically helpless, who might have normal intelligence but their bodies are useless? Then we should wipe out anyone with any kind of disability--:

Yep~~~~They could start with this guy who is up for extermination according to Florida's "life support" laws.

TREATING STUDENTS ON THE SPOT. . . HMS nurses grab students on the run when activities are in high gear. During the annual art show, Anita Rickards (left) stopped Derrick in the hall to administer a tube feeding, while Colleen McGowan-Hardin did the same with Joey to keep the boys on schedule without interfering in their fun.

Here's another one ....dude....they would have a field day pronouncing death on people with limited cognitive ability that they could call already "dead".

There must be thousands of them.

Forget Me Not

Our problems are many & varied, our struggles are always uphill... I'm speaking for hundreds of children, so listen awhile if you will...

I want understanding- not pity, I wish you could treat me the same...

You wouldn't ignore the other children, at least you would ask them their name...

I know I can't answer to tell you, my face may seem empty & dead.... My body is twisted- but I AM alive, and there ARE thoughts in my head...

I will not be shut out from the world, I am a child & it is my right....

I'm not an object of pity- to be hidden away out of sight....

My parents see me through eyes of love, and not as others do.... They see the things I can achieve & I wish that you would too.......

As I ask you to Forget-Me-Not, I beg you to hear my plea...

If I could speak I would ask you.... to please look closer & see me.

[floriduh voter]

MORE TRUTH:

JIM KING IS THE ONLY SCOUNDREL ABOVE UP FOR RE-ELECTION. I hope he loses.