Terri Schiavo Myths
Saturday, March 19th, 2005Kevin Drum links to a post on another blog, Majikthise, that describes several myths about the Terri Schiavo case, with links to other sources. It turns out that I was mistaken about Schaivo being brain dead:
Terri is neither comatose, nor brain dead. She is in a vegetative state because her higher brain centers have been destroyed and replaced by fluid.
She links to a blog by a medical doctor, which quotes still another blogger quoting the June 2003 (!) opinion of the Second District Court of the State of Florida:
Over the span of this last decade, Theresa’s brain has deteriorated because of the lack of oxygen it suffered at the time of the heart attack. By mid 1996, the CAT scans of her brain showed a severely abnormal structure. At this point, much of her cerebral cortex is simply gone and has been replaced by cerebral spinal fluid. Medicine cannot cure this condition. Unless an act of God, a true miracle, were to recreate her brain, Theresa will always remain in an unconscious, reflexive state, totally dependent upon others to feed her and care for her most private needs (emphasis added).
Majikthise also responds to attempts to discredit Schiavo’s character, including charges that Michael wants Terri to die so he can inherit a large sum of money (less than $50K of a million dollar fund to care for Terri remains) and charges of Michael abusing Terri.
The fact that Schiavo also turned down a million dollar offer to go away should make it clear that this is not about money.
Go read Majikthise’s entire post.
