A Persistent Politically Opportunistic State
That's what Bill Frist was in, all the while he was promoting Terry Schiavo as somebody clearly just moments from leaping out of bed and going out to pick limes. (Au contraire, sleazebag!) So, once again, says science -- real science, not rumored science -- the stuff right-wing blogs were overflowing with during l'affaire Schiavo.
Ms. Schiavo is profoundly disabled and cannot communicate with words at this time.But she knows. She feels. There’s expression in those eyes. Just one look at her in a video with her mother and everyone except the Scarecrow on his way to Oz knows it, too.
(Just look at the MRI, asshole, which is slightly more reliable than the opinion of a bunch of Wizard Of Oz-watching religious fanatics.)
And now, take a look at the autopsy. Her brain, says the autopsy, was severely shriveled and about half the weight of a normal adult's. According to a David Brown and William Branigin story in the Washington Post:
The damage to it "was irrecoverable, and no amount of treatment or rehabilitation would have reversed" it, said pathologist Jon R. Thogmartin, who is the chief medical examiner for Florida's sixth judicial district.The damage was especially severe in the region responsible for vision, making her functionally blind, he said at a news conference in Florida.
Schiavo died March 31 at age 41 in a hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., 13 days after a feeding tube was removed from her stomach under a court order. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, had waged a seven-year legal battle against her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, to have the tube removed on grounds that his wife would not have wanted to be kept alive by such means. The Schindlers, backed by anti-abortion and right-to-life groups, rejected that argument and asserted that their daughter was responsive to them, wanted to live and could improve.
The autopsy essentially supported Michael Schiavo's contention that his wife's brain damage was irreversible and that she had no cognitive ability. It also refuted claims by some of his harsher critics that he had abused her.
Michael Schiavo's lawyer, George Felos, later told reporters, "Mr. Schiavo was pleased to hear the hard science and evidence of those findings."
Felos said Michael Schiavo intends to release certain autopsy photos of Terri Schiavo's brain "in the near future" in hopes of putting to rest any lingering doubts about her mental capacity. He said the photos would allow the public to "see the profound atrophy that was mentioned in the report."
In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the autopsy report did not change President Bush's view of the Schiavo case, in which he and Congress had tried to intervene with the aim of restoring her feeding tube and prolonging her life.
"No . . . it doesn't," McClellan said. "Our thoughts and prayers remain with her family and friends. The president was deeply saddened by this case."
A lawyer for the Schindlers, David Gibbs III, said today his clients continue to believe that before her death, their daughter "was demonstrating a will to live."
And tragically, a whole lot of greasy politicians ran with this -- as far as it could take them and their right wing goals.
right-wing blog link via Metafilter
I'm sure that the autopsy results have little meaning for the Christian right. I'm sure they still believe that Schiavo could've miraculously recovered. If water can be changed into wine, then why not vegetable into human? Anything's possible with God, right?
Besides, even if you got them to admit that Schiavo had zero chance of recovering, that argument still wouldn't persuade them. These are people who fight to protect the "lives" of zygotes who are not any more conscious than Schiavo was.
I'm afraid that no scientific inquiry, such as an autopsy, could have significant impact on any Christian fundamentalist. These are people who reject science.
Jason Ginsburg at June 16, 2005 6:17 AM
> right-wing blog link via
> Metafilter
What, you're afraid to soil your LCD by reading the stuff directly?
Amy you're right, but the most useful principle here is "follow the money." A brain so diminished would probably not be able to register much pain, either. This dramatically lowers the moral stakes. If the life-at-all-costs people had ponied up the dough to feed her, then maybe it woulda been OK to keep her 'alive.' (It woulda been sick and twisted, but of lot of normal things are sick and twisted.)
But they insisted on demonstrating their righteousness with other people's money.
Crid at June 16, 2005 6:47 AM
Jason -- You make a soberingly good point (And you're funny too! Are you single?). Still, I think we can be glad that the fundamentalists and Frist now look worse to people in the middle (ie, those who might be swayed by religious sentiment without being completely bonkers). LC
Lena at June 16, 2005 7:32 AM
Thanks Lena, but I just got married in April: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonginsburg/
Jason Ginsburg at June 16, 2005 8:06 AM
Jason, a book for you: The Seven Principles For Making Marriage Work, by Gottman
Amy Alkon at June 16, 2005 9:26 AM
Thanks Amy. We've actually got a flight tomorrow (to attend another wedding), so I'll have time to give the book a look. The wedding's in Utah, so I might pick up a spare wife while I'm there. :)
Jason Ginsburg at June 16, 2005 9:59 AM
Jason, just remember: if the marriage turns sour, I'm here for you, babe. You've got a friend.
Lena at June 16, 2005 10:10 AM
Here's a USA Today story where I think life extension measures might be reasonable, unlike the Schiavo case.
Alan at June 16, 2005 12:02 PM
Every time there's a religious revival, the revival ends as abruptly as it began, with many people jumping ship when the 'true' believers make a grand attempt to change society that infringes on the shipjumpers lives in a way they dislike. One example was prohibition. Terri Schiavo is the latest example.
Mark my words: Santorum's going to be the first domino to fall. While he may be a darling of the national religious right, I live in Pennsylvania and no one here likes him. Not conservatives, because he received wellfare (of a sort to send his kids to cyberschool), tried to raise the minimum wage and also had a perceived leading role in the left/right consensus nominee for worst bill in history-the medicaid bill. They also hate him because he campaigned for Spector. Liberals hate him because he's, well, an antihuman (Aristotelian 'human' i.e. thinker) theocratic fascist. Old people hate him because they now associate Republicans (erroneously) with the attempted theft of their social security checks and because they can't understand the new drug cards. Young people hate him because he recalls for them a certain vile liquid that one of Amy's competitors irrevocably linked him with. It really is pile on Santorum in the local editorials/letters to the editor, no matter what press you read. On top of all that, he's running against a pro-life democrat who had a much-loved, local-icon, late father of the same name. He doesn't have a prayer.
Santorum's going to disappear in 2006 and all his buddies will be right behind him. In ten years you will be more likely to see a rubber-baby-buggy-bumpers initiative in Congress than a faith-based one.
Little ted at June 16, 2005 6:00 PM
Okay, Little Ted. Now tell us that Dr. Frist will fall too.
Lena-doodle-doo at June 16, 2005 7:30 PM
Allergic reaction to plastic. Lego hair.
Little ted at June 16, 2005 8:38 PM
Yeah, he's working the Katherine Harris Helmet Head look from a manly angle. I heard him speak at a conference several years ago. Quite the windbag too!
Lena-doodle-doo at June 17, 2005 1:10 AM
Hope you're right, Ted!
Amy Alkon at June 17, 2005 6:59 AM
I tell you, my outlook is getting worse every day. I remember the video that tried to provide proof of Terri Schiavo's consciousness included Terri supposedly following a balloon with her eyes. (I cynically note that the balloon wasn't visible in the video clip.) Now it seems that she couldn't have followed anything with her eyes, because the sight centers in her brain were destroyed. So, those noble life-at-all-costers were lying.
Delightful.
Patrick at June 17, 2005 7:41 AM
Cheer up, Patrick. Don't you think the physicians who reported the autopsy results seemed to relish the fact that all the findings contradicted Frist's tele-diagnosis? There seems to have been a good deal of "I told you so" going on since that news conference. (Left, Right, and Center is going to be juicy this week!)
Bite. Chew. Spit out. Repeat.
Lena-doodle-doo at June 17, 2005 7:57 AM
I'm so happy that the bandwagon Frist and these fanatics jumped on explode in their faces.
It was disgusting to see the these --for lack of a better word -- *people* trying to benefit from the misery of someone in such unfortunate circumstances.
Eamonn at June 17, 2005 10:46 AM
Doesn't look like he's/they're going to let this go until (hopefully) his/their political careers are over.
Probe Sought in Terri Schiavo 911 Call.
Maybe someone smarter than me can explain what he/they hope to gain.
Alan at June 17, 2005 12:09 PM
I'm guessing, like all egomaniacs, they'd rather choke to death on their own vomit than admit they're wrong. The inner dialogue is probably stuck on an endless loop, "Michael Schiavo DID abuse his wife. We know he did this and we're always right."
Eh, I'd ask Amy to give her two cents worth. She's more knowledgable in the area of psychology than I am.
Patrick the cynic at June 18, 2005 8:35 AM
I wouldn't presume to know what went down -- but the fact that the guy studied nursing and spent a number of years caring for her in the day-to-day ickiness that care like this entails (Lena knows more about this)...says a lot about his character and his relationship with her. That kind of care takes a tremendous amount out of you. When my friend Marlowe became brain-damaged, just spending a day with her -- which I only did every few months when I was in New York -- was a wrenching experience. This guy spent YEARS bedside, wiping the lady's bum, etc. It's ugly and terrible torture.
Amy Alkon at June 18, 2005 9:22 AM
"I wouldn't presume to know what went down"
An admission of uncertainty! I think we've got an atheist in our midst!
Lena at June 18, 2005 1:06 PM
Thanks for that article ! Regards. Lingerie coquine
travis at December 25, 2010 4:09 AM
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