The Torture of Schiavo

I wish I was kidding, but no... that is what is currently being advanced at the National Review Online. Note the subtitle that states she would be better off if she was a terrorist. Classy. Also note his implications that Michael Schiavo has a fat bank account (he actually only has about 50k from the original settlement due to care and legal costs) and the Delay-like lies that she is alert and responsive, that there is debate regarding her diagnosis, and that the process of dying in the planned manner is "torture."

Furthermore, McCarthy takes this to its "logical" conclusion and thinks that we should prosecute Michael Schiavo for torture.

I need a beer... make it six...

Update: OK, there is an error on my part above... by the technical definitions, she is in fact both alert and responsive (or better, "arousable"), but this essentially only means that she has her eyes open and she has reflexes. Big deal. Many reflexes, if not most, are mediated by the spinal cord and lower brain stem, not higher cortical areas (which would be too slow to make an effective reflex). Her eyes may be open, but nobody is home... her cortex is essentially dead and gone. This is kind of like the proverbial "chicken running around with its head cut off."

Unfortunately, few folks out there understand what these terms mean (as the article points out, there are a lot of terms along the continuum) so while they might be technically correct, people leap (like I did) to assume that they mean a lot more than they actually do.