6/17/2005
Schiavo autopsy aftermath
E. J. Dionne if of the Washington Post looks at the Schiavo autopsy and asks Where's the apology? He mainly concentrates on Bill Frist, but he also recalls this quote from Tom DeLay:
The Tampa Trib's Daniel Ruth, meanwhile, goes after "Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and the rest of their sweat lodge of slander engaging in common decency":
The autopsy discredits the abuse and Terri-is-in-better-condition-than-the-media-lets-on arguments in the case. So Gov. Jeb Bush immediately sought a new attack. This time calling on prosecutors to investigate whether her husband took too long to call for help on the night she collapsed in 1990. Not that this would be a politically motivated criminal prosecution or anything.
St Pete Times version here.
This brings up something I mentioned in my column today -- A great deal of Schiavo's medical care was paid for by a million-dollar malpractice settlement. One would think the people who paid that money would have been powerfully motivated to find evidence of abuse and get themselves off the hook. The fact that they paid strongly suggests they couldn't find such evidence.
If Michael Schiavo took too long to get help wouldn't these same civil suit defendants have looked into it before paying out a million?
Abstract Appeal notes: I suppose this all harkens back to the "Michael did it" theory, which continues to grow more strange. Did Michael wait 70 minutes to call? Or, over thirteen years later, did he mix up 4:30 and 5:30?
On the Florida editorial pages:
+ Florida Today pronounced: Case closed.
+ The Miami Herald says Autopsy vindicates husband, doctors, Florida courts. We hope overreaching lawmakers learned some lessons here, although most appeared unapologetic this week. If the courts are imperfect forums for family disputes, political bodies are the absolute worst. Lawmakers have no business meddling in affairs that already have been diligently considered by the courts.
+ The S. Florida Sun-Sentinel concludes: The court made the right decision, and the legal system worked, difficult as it may be for some to accept.
+ The Tampa Tribune headline: Autopsy Puts To Rest Rumors But Won't Settle Moral Debate. The autopsy results are irrelevant to the moral argument that human life should be valued under all circumstances, a position that deserves respect. It's unfortunate that some who professed to hold that view resorted to wild, and now discredited, accusations.
And finally Abstract Appeal does its usual fine job of looking dispassionately at the case.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay didn't pretend to be a doctor, just expert enough to know what was wrong with the news reports.
"Mrs. Schiavo's condition, I believe, has been at times misrepresented by the media," DeLay said on March 20. "Terri Schiavo is not brain-dead; she talks and she laughs, and she expresses happiness and discomfort. Terri Schiavo is not on life-support."
You wonder: Will DeLay now say to the media that he's sorry? Will he acknowledge that, in the Schiavo case, he honestly didn't know what he was talking about?
The Tampa Trib's Daniel Ruth, meanwhile, goes after "Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and the rest of their sweat lodge of slander engaging in common decency":
in the service of ratings points, audience share, ambition, ego and hubris, the likes of Glenn Beck, the Madame Defarge of Talk Radio, and his Posse Comitatus of prevarication were more than willing to engage in drive time vigilantism against Michael Schiavo, whose only crime was trying to honor his wife's end-of-life wishes.
Wait! Was that an apology by the likes of Glenn Beck, the Albert Speer of the Sackcloth and Ashes set, that he was wrong about - EVERYTHING?
Naw. That would require a soul.
That would require a some class.
That would require manhood.
The autopsy discredits the abuse and Terri-is-in-better-condition-than-the-media-lets-on arguments in the case. So Gov. Jeb Bush immediately sought a new attack. This time calling on prosecutors to investigate whether her husband took too long to call for help on the night she collapsed in 1990. Not that this would be a politically motivated criminal prosecution or anything.
St Pete Times version here.
This brings up something I mentioned in my column today -- A great deal of Schiavo's medical care was paid for by a million-dollar malpractice settlement. One would think the people who paid that money would have been powerfully motivated to find evidence of abuse and get themselves off the hook. The fact that they paid strongly suggests they couldn't find such evidence.
If Michael Schiavo took too long to get help wouldn't these same civil suit defendants have looked into it before paying out a million?
Abstract Appeal notes: I suppose this all harkens back to the "Michael did it" theory, which continues to grow more strange. Did Michael wait 70 minutes to call? Or, over thirteen years later, did he mix up 4:30 and 5:30?
On the Florida editorial pages:
+ Florida Today pronounced: Case closed.
+ The Miami Herald says Autopsy vindicates husband, doctors, Florida courts. We hope overreaching lawmakers learned some lessons here, although most appeared unapologetic this week. If the courts are imperfect forums for family disputes, political bodies are the absolute worst. Lawmakers have no business meddling in affairs that already have been diligently considered by the courts.
+ The S. Florida Sun-Sentinel concludes: The court made the right decision, and the legal system worked, difficult as it may be for some to accept.
+ The Tampa Tribune headline: Autopsy Puts To Rest Rumors But Won't Settle Moral Debate. The autopsy results are irrelevant to the moral argument that human life should be valued under all circumstances, a position that deserves respect. It's unfortunate that some who professed to hold that view resorted to wild, and now discredited, accusations.
And finally Abstract Appeal does its usual fine job of looking dispassionately at the case.
