Terri Schiavo: Victim of right-wing knee jerks

Dr. Jon Thogmartin, right, and Dr. Stephen Nelson,
released Terri Schiavo's autopsy results today
during a news conference in Clearwater, Fla.

So despite the continuing denials of the Schiavo family, the verdict is in, according to the New York Times,

the Piniellas-Pasco Medical Examiner, Jon Thogmartin,... said the autopsy showed that Ms. Schiavo's condition was "consistent" with a person in a persistent vegetative state. That point had become a key issue in the debate over whether to prolong Ms. Schiavo's life and whether she had a chance to recover normal brain function.

Dr. Thogmartin said that recovery was not possible because of the massive brain damage that occurred after Ms. Schiavo collapsed in 1990. ,,,,

"This damage was irreversible," said Dr. Thogmartin. "No amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons."

I suppose even now it would be too much to expect the right-wing knee jerks to come forward and admit that political opportunism was at the "heart" of their disgraceful actions in the Terri Schiavo case. I doubt that they have even learned that imposing a political presence between a patient and her doctor and family can't ever be for the best.
The New York Times reminds us that

At one point during the drawn-out dispute, President Bush returned to the White House from a Texas vacation late on a Sunday night solely to sign a law that allowed Ms. Schiavo's parents to seek a federal court review of the facts of the case. He praised Congress for "voting to give Terry Schiavo's parents another opportunity to save their daughter's life."

But in this case Bush was only the tip of the iceberg. Let's not forget Delay, Frist and, perhaps, worst of all right-wing activist Randall Terry. Let me remind you of what I quoted from the Nation Magazine in April:

For leaders of the Christian right, the case was only their most recent attempt to elevate to the level of national crusade issues like gay unions and abstinence-only sex education. Each invokes moral alarm (the morality determined by the self-righteous) against considered, scientifically informed public policy, and each involves a demand for state intrusion into well-established zones of privacy and civil rights.

(Photo: Chris O'Meara/Associated Press)