Infomaniac: WeBlog

Terri' s world

With all the terrible accusations being thown around this devastating case, every once in awhile you find a reporter has made time to look into how it all came about. See Husband, in-laws once were united in caring for Terri, a story by Cara Buckley in today's Herald. Going over old testimony in court documents, she finds that the Schindlers and Michael Schiavo were once united in her care; he called them 'Mom and Dad' and lived with them after Terri's accident. They encouraged him to date. Terri got lots of therapy. And they all agreed she was in a 'persistant vegetative state' 12 years ago. But it all went stale over money, when the award ended up much smaller than they all had expected.
This contradicts much of the rheoric that you find on the Web everywhere; worth a read if you care about this case (doesn't everybody?).

On another front, the nasty side of this case is starting to show future dangers: Florida Blog points out some scary stuff, including an apparent threat to Jeb Bush (from WorldNet Daily) that "If he lets Terri Schiavo die, that is, if he capitulates to the judicial death culture, his political future will turn as cold as it did for Ted Kennedy."
And, Abstract Appeal discusses the threats to state judge Greer: "Judge Greer is part of that system, and he operated within it to perform his required role. Those who condemn him, and the judiciary that has thus far upheld his decisions, do not know what they do."
Also: The Herald story on Lucenia Bullard, who said of the protesters who lobbied her to vote for the 'Schiavo bill': "They lost my respect, one, because of the lies, and secondly because of the mean-spiritedness I have felt."

Meanwhile, Billmon has some suggestions about moves Gov. Bush might take....
(Via DiscourseNet.)

For a couple thoughts on why people are so passionate about this case: In Not Dead at All, Harriet McBryde Johnson, a disability-rights lawyer, explains why Congress had to pass the Schiavo bill. And Peggy Noonan, in Opinion Journal, expresses the growing discussion of the 'death culture': "Why are they so committed to this woman's death? They seem to have fallen half in love with death....No one enjoys a deathbed. Very few want to leave."

posted by liz at 11:26 AM