I turned on Fox News Channel last night while I ate dinner, and there was Bill O'Reilly giving his "Talking Points Memo" about the legal situation surrounding Terri Schiavo.
I had been becoming less and less willing to sit through his show lately, because he's becoming so pompous, so sure that only he has all the answers. Well last night was it for me. No more O'Reilly. At the very least, he appears to have hired all of Dan Rather's fact-checkers to use on "The O'Reilly Factor." His Talking Points Memo was full of crucial omissions that skewed the facts.
Here's one of his points: "The key piece of evidence is provided by Florida doctors who examined Terri Schiavo and explained her condition to the court, quote:
'Theresa's brain has deteriorated because of the lack of oxygen it suffered a the time of her heart attack...at this point, much of her cerebral cortex is simply gone and has been replaced by cerebral spinal fluid.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 on others...'"
Which doctor are you quoting, Bill? One of the ones hired by Michael Schiavo's attorney, a man who is deeply involved in the right-to-die cause? The doctors hired by Michael Schiavo are the only doctors whose assessment of Terri were accepted as testimony. The assessments by other doctors, who say that she can recover more function and is capable of swallowing (because she's already swallowing her own saliva--no drooling for Terri) was not permitted in court by Judge Greer. And it was ignored by Bill O'Reilly. In fact, O'Reilly ignored the fact that this statement he quoted is in dispute.
In even more bad fact-checking, Bill O'Reilly said, "That happened, despite a new ABC News poll that says a majority of Americans agree that Terri Schiavo's 15 years of technological life should be ended."
Well, that ABC News poll has already been shown to be extremely biased. It made a statement before asking the question:
"Schiavo suffered brain damage and has been on life support for 15 years," the poll informed respondents. "Doctors say she has no consciousness and her condition is irreversible. Her husband and her parents disagree about whether she would have wanted to be kept alive. Florida courts have sided with the husband and her feeding tube was removed on Friday. What's your opinion on this case – do you support or oppose the decision to remove Schiavo's feeding tube?"
Terri Schiavo has not been on life support and was not on life support before they pulled her feeding tube. When normal people hear "life support," they think of ventilators and heart/lung machines and other mechanisms designed to keep body functions working. They don't think of food and water as life support.
In addition, Terri does show some consciousness (she lights up when her parents come in the room), and there are doctors who have examined her and say that her condition can be improved.
So for ABC News to make misstatements like that--and to leave out the fact that Michael abandoned Terri for another woman with whom he has established another family--and then to claim that their results accurately reflect the views of the people is appalling.
Meanwhile, one of the nurses who used to care for Terri (and whose testimony was part of a federal lawsuit filed against Michael Schiavo in 2003 that didn't get anywhere) has told her story on Fox News Channel. According to a WorldNetDaily article, Carla Sauer Iyer stated that Michael Schiavo "had forbidden medical professionals to provide his wife with any therapy or rehabilitation and had attempted to hasten her death while she was a patient at the Pinellas Park, Fla., hospice she has lived in since 2000."
With all of these questions still unresolved, with all of this doubt about Michael Schiavo's dedication to his position as Terri's guardian, it seems best to wait. Put the feeding tube back in. Check out the stories going around. Re-examine Terri, using the newest technology. Once a diagnosis is in (and not just the 15-year-old diagnosis), and once a proper guardian is assigned, then the family and the courts can determine the best course.
It is always best to err on the side of life. If Terri lives for two more weeks, what's the harm if the ultimate decision is to let her die based on an accurate assessment? But if they kill her now without knowing the truth, there's no way to correct a wrong decision.
Keep Terri alive until we know the truth!
And I believe that once we know the truth, there will be no question that she must be kept alive.
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