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"His parents continue to insist that he will improve, that he is responsive to sounds and that he 'talks' to them."
The language of those who would continue the imprisonment of Terri Schiavo is imprecise, either due to ignorance or for purposes of propaganda. She is not "disabled" in the normal context of the word. Her body is, for all practical purposes, dead - being kept alive solely through extraordinary artificial means. She's not in a coma. People recover from comas. Her condition is diagnosed as a "persistent vegetative state." There is no medical record of someone recovering from a persistent vegetative state. This is not just a state of brain damage. Terri Schiavo has sustained, irreversible brain death. "The lights are on but nobody's home."
In this case, there is no one to experience pain or suffering because the brain isn't functioning in a way that allows for that experience.
Over at Oliver Willis's interactive 'blog, a poster named "Teaser" cut to the chase with the following unemotional (and, perhaps, irreverent), but nevertheless reasoned argument:
She ain't got no cortex, son. You can't rehabiliate it. I know. I've decorticated and decerebrated animals for the last few years in the name of medicine. Once you do that, they are done. They still got reflexes, they still shit, fart, and periodically eat, but there ain't nothin' goin' on inside. I could put the f*ckers on a treadmill for two years, and they still wouldn't grow a new brain.
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In an interview with Larry King on CNN, the actual Michael Schiavo seems very different from the virtual character portrayed by his desperate in-laws, that is, a callous and calculating self-involved boor:
SCHIAVO: ... we heard of this doctor in California here that was doing experimental surgery, implanting stimulators in people's brains in hopes to stimulate any activity.
Now ... when this doctor looked at the CAT scans, (we were told) that it was probably not going to work because there's just no brain left.
But I did it anyway, because I loved Terri. And I wanted to bring my wife back. So I flew her out to California by myself, with a nurse. And I spent a month there. They inserted the stimulator.
KING: Didn't work?
(We interrupt this transcript to insert a rant.) RANT, REV - RANT!
I'M SO FORTUNATE!! YES - I AM SO HAPPY THAT NEITHER I NOR ANYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS DR. FRIST, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, AS OUR PERSONAL PHYSICIAN!
Is Frist suffering from overwork - or early senility? How could a board-certified physician and corporate healthcare "entrepreneur" be so misinformed or have forgotten so much? Frist said he could tell from viewing the video footage of Terry Schiavo blinking at her bobble-head mom that she can be rehabilitated!
I'm no Doctor. Neither do I portray one in the halls of Congress - but I know that when the cerebral cortex has turned to ooze, there ain't nothin' short of a head transplant that could be considered rehabilitative.
LESS THAN 1/2 the House of Representatives vote for an ill-conceived, extraconstitutional piece of crap. 50-some voted against. The others slept in. It's a joke, a compellingly dangerous exercise in hypocrisy.
DR. FRIST & THE BIBLE-THUMPIN' SLEAZOID TOM DELAY SHOULD BE ASHAMED FOR TRYING TO MANIPULATE THE MISFORTUNATE SITUATION OF THIS POOR FAMILY TO SCORE CHEAP POLITICAL POINTS WITH THEIR BASE - WHO COMPRISE THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR AMONG OUR CITIZENRY!)
The Larry King Show, re-joined in progress . . .
SCHIAVO: No, it eventually didn't work, no. The protocol for the stimulator was three months. I kept it on her for a year.
KING: Did she ever speak since 1990?
SCHIAVO: Terri never has spoken a word.
KING: So various types of rehab were conducted?
SCHIAVO: Right. When I got -- when I brought her back from California, I put her in a rehab called meddaplaques in Bradenton, Florida. They deal with *** only head injury, spine injury patients*** . They worked extensively -- they had physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, recreational therapy. They worked extensively with Terri.
KING: Nothing?
SCHIAVO: Nothing. *** And her mother and father were there. And they heard this. They knew this.***
KING: So accusing you of not giving her any rehab is false?
SCHIAVO: Right. "
Some have wondered, "What's wrong with leaving Terri Schiavo hooked up to the feeding tube a while longer 'til a decision can be made?"
Duh! Every reasonable effort, test, scan, and a stimulative implant were employed over a 8-year period to try to recapture some of the former essence of Terri Schiavo. This period was followed by an 7-year series of court procedures and a devolving family squabble that has turned into an ugly public spectacle.
Meanwhile back at the hospice, Terri's cerebral cortex is goo. She will never again be capable of perceiving sensual stimuli. Her lot is to blink and drool for the rest of her time in front of the video camera.
By the way - Terri Schiavo WILL starve to death. What does that mean, really? If you or I were to be deprived of food and water for a couple weeks the resulting suffering might be excruciating. In Terri's case, there is no one to experience pain or suffering because the brain isn't functioning in a way that allows for that experience. The cerebral cortex is goo. It's neither cruel nor kind to let her starve. It's ethically neutral. It will not make a difference to Terri Schiavo. She's been gone a long time.
CONSERVATIVES ARE SPLIT
Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, the sole Republican to oppose the Schiavo bill in a voice vote in the Senate, said: "This senator has learned from many years you've got to separate your own emotions from the duty to support the Constitution of this country. These are fundamental principles of federalism."
"It looks as if it's a wholly Republican exercise," Mr. Warner said, "but in the ranks of the Republican Party, there is not a unanimous view that Congress should be taking this step."
"This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy," (R-CT)Christopher Shays said. "There are going to be repercussions from this vote. There are a number of people who feel that the government is getting involved in their personal lives in a way that scares them."
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Low Culture
PROOF THERE IS NO GOD?
Take a look at the believers!
No, wait - there IS a god, he's on this guy's sweatshirt.
At this point - who could blame Michael Schiavo for opting for the Robert Blake option?
"We never talk anymore!"
"When was the last time we went dancing?"
"Who wouldn't want out of this loveless marriage?
Terry just lays there during sex!"
I gotta go! Good fortune.
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