In my previous post, I said that others are now writing much better posts about Terri Schiavo than I can. Here’s four examples.
- Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings has written the unequalable if-you-read-only-one-post-about-Terri-Schiavo-this-should-be-it post. Hilzoy’s post (which is long) starts off by laying out the background, so if you’re already familiar with the case you may want to skim that section. The post also contains a discussion of the ethical issues involved which is both persuasive and impeccably well written.
- There’s also an idea spreading around the left blogosphere that there are cases – especially in Texas – where conscious patients are being unplugged by hospitals just because the patients are broke, and it’s all because of a law that George Bush signed, and aren’t those right-wingers hypocrites? I can understand the eagerness to take that position, especially since some leading onservatives have been repulsively eager to use Terri Schiavo to paint liberals as evil death-cultists. And there is some genuine hypocrisy there. (And here, as well.)
Nonetheless, the real issues aren’t as simple as some of my lefty allies are painting them; given finite resources, it does make sense for hospitals to be able to refuse genuinely futile measures. Lean Left has an excellent discussion of the more complicated reality.
- A writer at the Democracy Cell Project is eloquently appalled at how Terri Schaivo’s death, which should be a private matter for her family, has been twisted into a platform for political grandstanding.
- Finally, go check out Majikthise for a list of many, many more recent (mostly lefty) posts about Terri Schiavo.
And now I promise: my next bunch of posts will NOT be about Terri Schiavo.
Hello Ampersand! De-lurking to tell you that the Obsidian Wings link takes you to an image of the Schiavo CT scan, not the post you mention.
Cheers!
I think you have the wrong link to Hilzoy — try this
Thanks, Helena and David! The correction has been made.
Please consider this doctor’s opinion of the CT scan.
Pull the Plug on Pandering
Columnist Molly Ivins suggests this is a time for pulling the plug on pandering, saying, among other things:
i’m going to de-lurk as well and say i’ve enjoyed what you’ve posted on the schiavo case. i’ve really tried to avoid weighing in as i feel this is a private family matter that is none of my business. but i guess tonight i’d just had enough. inspired by a great backgrounded peice by corndog over at dailykos, i finally posted on this issue.
amp, you might consider checking out corndog’s post if you haven’t done so already, and mine is linked via my name.
Jack:
Codeblue’s assessment is based solely on the one CT-scan. He criticizes the statement that Schiavo’s brain has had additional deterioration/atrophy because there have been no subsequent radiographic findings to support the point. I’m not sure it’s accurate to say there’s been no serial diagnostic testing, all that can definitely be said is that this is the only radiographic image that is available to the blogosphere; there’s a very big difference. I’m not sure when the scan was taken, but even if it were taken recently, the one thing that definitely can be said of the CT scan is that it is grossly abnormal for a 41 year old woman. Additionally, he references the image as comparable to a senile but functional 75 year old. He should very well know that it’s very easy to misdiagnose without the additional information necessary to make certain statements (having recieved XRay reports diagnosing asthmatics with COPD just because they have some hyperinflation I realize you need the additional clinical correlates).
I’m positive Codeblue is mistaken about that. If you read Judge Greer’s ruling for the trial regarding medical issues, he refers to the fact that the doctors testified about multiple CT scans of Terri taken years apart.
Predispositions to the Terri Schiavo case have caused Florida and federal judges not to consider the national consequences of this case. This case is not just about Terri but also about the growing concern that there is no sufficient means to protect the basic rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) of American citizens. Terri has become a symbol of the vulnerability of the American people to a system of jurisprudence that ignores the basic rights of its people in favor of personal legal preferences that constrain any sense of humanity and compassion. What can the people of this nation expect from a judicial system that would willingly stand by and watch one of its citizens die without exhausting every possible means to spare that person’s life. We, the people of the United States of America, deserve to have every consideration fully examined before a rush to a previous judgment based on questionable evidence. We want to know that no evidence has been ignored and that all evidence is properly considered for the sake of our basic rights. If our faith in the judicial system is to continue, then the courts must demonstrate a sensitivity to the needs of the people it represents. Both houses of the legislature and the presidency have responded appropriately in seeking a national review of the Schiavo case. The Supreme Court has grievously erred in determining not to consider the needs of the people of this nation. If Terri dies, there will be a time of great national mourning. We would mourn her death and the loss of our confidence that our judicial system, headed by the Supreme Court, is able to faithfully perform its duties to promote, to the fullest extent, liberty and justice for all.
iamcitizen:
I couldn’t disagree with you more. Whats going on (for political reasons, not ethical ones), if successfull, could lead to the most frightening of government intervention and abuse as it would allow the government to act in a way that further erodes our liberties and rights. This case itself could lead to the government/special interest groups requiring intervention as well as require denial/removal of intervention without the expressed consent of a patient or that patient’s legally authorized representative. If you want folks who neither know or care about you making all the decisions about your life go for it, but don’t require the rest of us to be subjugated to the beliefs and agendas of others.
Please protect me from the do-gooders of the world. They threaten my rights as an individual.
are we forgetting that terri is in this “place” because she was starving herself!!!!! she had an eating disorder.
I found this post a bit challenging. Amp, what’s your take?
In an order styled “In RE: The Guardianship Of Theresa Marie Shiavo, Incapacitated” signed March 9, 2005 by judge George W. Greer, I find the following statement of fact by judge Greer:
“…a new evidentiary hearing on Terri Schiavo’s condition was couducted in October 2002 and current diagnostic testing procedures and high quality brain scans were undertaken, the results of which were presented to this Court along with any new medical procedures that would significantly improve the quality of her life.” (emphasis mine)
This line from Greer’s ruling is remarkable! If these “high quality” scans were made in 2002 – where are they now? Where are the medical personnel that made these scans? Were the scans really made ?
Since Greer went on to deny the petition, shouldn’t he, in light of all the controversy and questions surrounding his judgement, release these medical records? Or at least allow a group of qualified medical doctors to look and confirm his finding of fact?
Those scans are part of the patient’s medical record and are protected under a variety of laws. And if they were done, then OF COURSE doctors who are trained and qualified read them–Greer would not have been able to interpret the scans. It’s NONE OF OUR BUSINESS.