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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Just a Quick Question

Just a Quick Question

by John Cole|  June 18, 200511:11 am| 19 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics

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I really am trying to keep my now meaningless promise to stop talking about Schiavo, but I just have one quick question.

Assume Michael Schiavo did in fact wait 70 minutes to call 911 (instead of just goofing up the time 15 years later in an interview), and through the mystical powers of faith-healing, she was revived. What could he possibly be charged with? Is not calling 911 fast enough even a crime?

Here is a more cynical take than mine (is that possible?).

EJ Dionne:

Nothing in the autopsy report prevents those who opposed removing Schiavo’s feeding tube from continuing to insist they were right. It’s legitimate and honorable to argue on philosophical grounds that every medical decision in a tragic circumstance such as Schiavo’s should be made on the side of keeping the sick person alive.

But those who supported an extraordinary use of federal power to force their own conclusion against the judgment of state courts knew that philosophical arguments would not be enough. Most Americans were uneasy about compelling Schiavo’s husband, Michael, to keep his wife alive if — as the state courts had concluded and as the autopsy confirmed on Wednesday — she had suffered irreversible brain damage and was incapable of recovering.

So the big-government conservatives had to invent a story. They had to insist that they knew, just knew , more about Terri Schiavo’s condition than the doctors on the scene. They had to question Michael Schiavo’s motives and imply that he wanted to, well, get rid of her.

And rather than contrition, now the sad story moves on in a new perverse direction- an investigation in to whether Michael Schiavo called 911 fast enough.

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19Comments

  1. 1.

    Darrell

    June 18, 2005 at 11:31 am

    I don’t know if it would be a criminal offense or not, but it would certainly indicate an extreme callous disregard for the welfare of his wife, don’t you think?

  2. 2.

    BumperStickerist

    June 18, 2005 at 11:38 am

    I guess that would depend on what Terri said to the police.

  3. 3.

    ppgaz

    June 18, 2005 at 11:38 am

    In my opinion, no.

    First, you’d have to know exactly what he knew, and thought, during that time. For example, was she breathing? A reasonable person might conclude that the victim had simply fainted and would wake up shortly. That sort of thing. The man is not a doctor, and is not trained to assess the situation. What if she appeared to be semi-conscious, murmuring “I’m okay …” or seeming to. What if, what if, what if. It’s a murky area to say the least. I’ve called 911 only to realize later that it was probably an overreaction. There are no hard and fast rules in this area.

    But more importantly, what is the ruling law here? Is there a law in place that says that if you see a person lying on the floor, you are required to call 911 within some period of time? How could such a law be crafted? How could it be enforced? How would you gather evidence from shocked, upset people who may not know exactly what they saw and heard, or remember the exact sequence of events?

    In short: Witch hunt. It’s a witch hunt.

    And of course, that makes it the perfect petri dish in which to grow the mold of more right-wing bullshit.

    And for that reason, instead of a chorus of simple “no” answers to your question, you are likely to get yet another useless stream of churn and wingnut trolls here.

    Enjoy!

  4. 4.

    Stormy70

    June 18, 2005 at 12:29 pm

    Nooooooooooo! No more Terry, take the Moe, Larry, and Cheese.

  5. 5.

    scs

    June 18, 2005 at 1:58 pm

    By the way, I wish you’d all stop being so simple minded and keep insisting that everyone who wanted Terri to live was a right-winger. Half the Senate that voted for Terri were Dem’s. The other Dem’s were too scared to show up. Jesse Jackson wanted Terri to live. Some disabled people I saw on TV championed Terri’s rights and most of them were Democrats. I wanted her to live, and I still consider myself (mostly) a democrat.

    In short, the world is not always so black and white, blog people, although I’m sure its easier for you all to think it so.

  6. 6.

    Aaron

    June 18, 2005 at 2:11 pm

    Criminal negligence.

  7. 7.

    JG

    June 18, 2005 at 2:30 pm

    “big government conservatives”. I know all those words but they don’t make any sense when put together.

  8. 8.

    Sojourner

    June 18, 2005 at 2:31 pm

    Everyone wanted Terri to live. Unfortunately, some refuse to come to terms with the reality that she lost her life 15 years ago.

  9. 9.

    Antonio Manetti

    June 18, 2005 at 3:52 pm

    “Half the Senate that voted for Terri were Dem’s. The other Dem’s were too scared to show up. Jesse Jackson wanted Terri to live.”

    Just goes to show there are craven politicians, opportunists and charlatans on both sides of the aisle.

    Antonio

  10. 10.

    Dr Pretorius

    June 18, 2005 at 5:00 pm

    Just to go briefly back to the question – what sort of miracle revival are we talking about?

    If someone’s heart fails and nothing is done for seventy minutes, I don’t think revival is really an option at that point – ten to fifteen minutes, possibly (though with an almost certain probability of brain damage), but seventy minutes? I mean, I think that in the scenario you described we’re basically talking about bringing the (very, very) dead back to life.

  11. 11.

    John Cole

    June 18, 2005 at 5:09 pm

    If someone’s heart fails and nothing is done for seventy minutes, I don’t think revival is really an option at that point – ten to fifteen minutes, possibly (though with an almost certain probability of brain damage), but seventy minutes? I mean, I think that in the scenario you described we’re basically talking about bringing the (very, very) dead back to life.

    Which is precisely why this ‘investigation’ is such a transparent witch hunt. If Michael Schiavo had wanted her dead, all he had to do was wait ten or so more minutes.

  12. 12.

    Andrew J. Lazarus

    June 18, 2005 at 6:01 pm

    C’mon, Jeb Bush is acting in the best tradition of Spade, Marlowe, and Archer. The detective sees the clue buried in the past. Slowly the forces of justice catch up—the mills of the gods, and all that. I see Paul Newman as Gov. Bush, only because Bogie is dead.

    Or maybe at either 4 or 5 in the morning Michael Schiavo was a little confused about the time, as I would be. But you’ll never get to Hollywood (or the White House) with a tale like that.

  13. 13.

    Yehudit

    June 18, 2005 at 7:30 pm

    “Most Americans were uneasy about compelling Schiavo’s husband, Michael, to keep his wife alive if — as the state courts had concluded and as the autopsy confirmed on Wednesday — she had suffered irreversible brain damage and was incapable of recovering.”

    Jesus, the determined spin is unbelievable. She had a healthy body and was not dying. According to the autopsy report she didn’t succumb until she was so severely dehydrated that it was the worst case the ME had ever seen.

    She was compelled to die by having her nutrition deliberately removed. If people want to justify that, a case can be made. Given that family members were pleading to be allowed to take care of her and the husband had moved on to another relationship a decade ago, that case is more creaky than another might be.

    But make the case based on the facts.

    Why do you think over 20 disability rights groups spoke out in her favor? Why do you think they held a demonstration/teach-in in front of the hospice on feeding tubes with signs saying “We Love Our Tubes”? Think about it.

  14. 14.

    Sojourner

    June 18, 2005 at 8:52 pm

    Yehudit, are you suggesting that Schiavo lost half of her brain and all cognitive functioning because of dehydration?

  15. 15.

    Gary Farber

    June 18, 2005 at 9:22 pm

    “I really am trying to keep my now meaningless promise to stop talking about Schiavo….”

    There is no try. I have no objection to your going on about the topic, since I agree with you entirely, but if you want to stop talking about it, it’s not hard. Count the number of posts I’ve made about on the subject. And be assured that I feel no less strongly than you do about it.

  16. 16.

    ppgaz

    June 18, 2005 at 9:31 pm

    Yehudit gets it. “No brain function, but a healthy body. I could be next!”

    –/

    “But make the case on the facts.” Okay, Yehudit-here-first. The court had about 500 lbs of facts on paper in this case. Are you suggesting that you are more of a reliable source on this case than the court was? Are you suggesting that the rightwing Bathosphere came along after all those years and came up with solid, reliable facts that trumped what the court already had? How is that possible, Yehudin? Are you familiar with the extraordinary measures taken by these courts to get at the facts, and see to it that the subject’s rights are properly represented?

    Are you aware of the fact that persons familiar with the case law asserted that no such case in history had ever been more thoroughly adjudicated?

    If this process cannot be trusted to be faithful to both the law and to the rights of the subject, then what process do you recommend? A Brain Death Tribunal, presided over by James Dobson, Pat Robertson and Bill Frist?

  17. 17.

    Levi

    June 18, 2005 at 9:43 pm

    Did you all hear??? Senator Frist and Dr Delay(snark) are introducing a new bill on Monday. It’s in honor of Terri Schiavo and it’s called The Corpse Reanimation Act!!!!

  18. 18.

    ppgaz

    June 18, 2005 at 10:48 pm

    Frist is an apt sponsor of the measure, Levi.

    He’s a dead ringer for Frankenstein’s monster; just picture him with a few staples in his forehead.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. Catch says:
    June 18, 2005 at 1:30 pm

    Scarborough country

    From AP:

    Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said Friday that a prosecutor has agreed to investigate why Terri Schiavo collapsed 15 years ago, citing an alleged time gap between when her husband

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