The media lie again about Terri Schiavo

The evil mainstream media have, unsurprisingly, misrepresented the autopsy report on Terri Schiavo, saying that the report concluded that she was in a persistent vegetative state, when, in fact, the report says nothing of the kind. As Spencer Warren informs me, in an attachment to the autopsy report, Dr. Nelson, a neuropathologist and chief medical examiner, writes as his final words:

Neuropathologic examination alone of the decedent’s brain—or any brain, for that matter—cannot prove or disprove a diagnosis of persistent vegetative state or minimally conscious state.

In his press conference remarks, Dr. Nelson stated the brain’s condition was consistent with PVS, which is not the same as an affirmative diagnosis. Furthermore, the report proper, written by Dr. Thogmartin, the Chief Medical Examiner, at page 8 answers the following specific questions about Terri:

5. Was Mrs. Schiavo in a persistent vegetative state (PVS)?

PVS is a clinical diagnosis arrived at through physical examination of living patients. Postmortem correlations to PVS with reported pathologic findings have been reported in the literature, but the findings vary with the etiology of the adverse neurological event.”

So, there is no way anyone could tell from a postmortem whether Terri was in PVS. Yet here is the lead of the Associated Press story carried by CNN and across the nation:

An autopsy on Terri Schiavo backed her husband’s contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state, finding that she had massive and irreversible brain damage and was blind, the medical examiner’s office said Wednesday.

But of course she had massive and irreversible brain damage. That was not the issue. The issue was whether she was in a persistent vegetative state. And most of the mainstream media, including the New York Times, made it sound as if the autopsy had found PVS when in fact no such thing could have been determined from a postmortem exam.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 20, 2005 01:00 AM | Send