Terri Schiavo's autopsy

With the release of Ms. Schiavo's autopsy last week, supporters of her "right to die" are trumpeting the results as vindication of the court's position. "See?" They seem to yell. "The autopsy proves we were right!"

Well, actually, the autopsy on Ms. Schiavo proves very little. It can't prove whether she was in a persistent vegetative state — that diagnosis has to be made on someone who is still alive. Yes, it clearly indicates Ms. Schiavo's brain function was limited at best; is this something we didn't know in March? No.

Andy McCarthy writes an eloquent response to those who supported Michael Schiavo's efforts to end his wife's life. Here's my favorite passage:

During the debate over Terri Schiavo, while she was being starved and dehydrated for two weeks, those supporting federal intervention made two contentions. First, that the proof that she was actually in a PVS was not strong enough and was suspect because basic tests that could easily have settled doubts were being resisted. Second, that the evidence that Terri had actually expressed a considered preference on the momentous decision of whether to end her life was appallingly thin.

This was not, as [the Washington Post's E.J.] Dionne suggests, about “toss[ing] around unwarranted conclusions.” It was about insisting that conclusions on so grave a matter be warranted by firmly proven evidence. The federal government did not legislate a prohibition on terminating life; it called for a searching examination to ensure that the fact-finding was sound.

Most of us did not question that a PVS patient who had credibly expressed a choice to die could lawfully be starved and dehydrated to death. We simply argued that being starved and dehydrated to death by court order was a matter of great moment — something, indeed, that our society would not permit to be done to a convicted terrorist. Therefore, if it was to be done to an innocent person like Terri, the proof on the two predicates better be convincing. As it wasn’t convincing; and as there was no pressing need for Terri’s life to be ended in March as opposed to, say, June, there was no good reason not to delay to make sure we had it right.

The mainstream media scoffed. Without thoughtful examination of what actually went on in the shoddy Florida court proceedings, without the slightest concern about the absence of basic tests for brain function, the Big Government-lovin’ press — the same people who would mandate DNA testing for death-row inmates to avoid the slimmest possibility that a murderer might be wrongfully executed — became overnight federalists, demanding to know how the big, bad federal government could even think of interfering with a matter of sovereign state law.

It's great. Read the whole thing.