You get the direct hit award for that one! Whammo!
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.
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I'm guessing that the flowers in Terri's room were in a "persistent vegetative state" but they were given water.
During the height of the Schaivo battle, there were a number of wonderful articles written in defense of the value of Terri's life and of those who are disabled.
Does anyone have a list of links for articles written at that time?
My own Mother asked me to kill her in such a situation.
This is how to make a grown man cry.
Chuck Colson should have known better than to rely on the MSM. They work hand-in-glove as part of the Culture of Death. Still, its hard to keep up with these weasals, they distort the truth and lie with such glib facility. We all get fooled once in a while; his apology is accepted and keep up the good work.
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.
I concur wholeheartedly.
Thanks for posting this.
Terri Schiavo was a human sacrifice by the priests of Darwinism.
You get the direct hit award for that one! Whammo!
Colson is too much of a gentleman to do this ... but I'm not. 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.
Search on "terri" using the title search or keyword search functions and you'll probably find most of them.
It always takes courage to admit a mistake. To admit you were wrong in a public forum, in front of thousands or potentially millions of people, takes both exceptional courage and a generous spirit. Thank you, Chuck Colson. You are putting things right again.
ditto. Jeb is a girl.
Yep, vegetables don't need morphine, and she was apparently in great discomfort despite the morphine.
It was nothing.
For you to hang the guilt of this on Governor Bush is unbelievable.
I've been horrified by the culture of death that surrounded this case. The last person I would blame is Governor Jeb Bush.
Indeed. I can't stand that flagrant dishonest of Michael Schiavo. But hey, I guess he's making money of his book now.
The truth at last.
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