NY Daily News: (Shiavo) Video doesn't tell whole, sad tale

[brooklynite]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/293023p-250830c.html

Terri Schiavo's eyes avidly follow a shiny Mickey Mouse balloon held over her bed. She beams when her mother tenderly kisses her forehead. Replayed on TV every few minutes, the powerful videotape is driving much of the public reaction.

...snip...

But it's carefully edited and cruelly misleading, according to doctors who say people lost in a permanent vegetative state sometimes falsely appear perfectly conscious.

...snip...

On the unedited tape, Mary Schindler tries repeatedly to get her daughter to obey a request and prove to the court she mustn't die.

...snip...

But in the extended versions of the tape, Schiavo looks at her mother only when her gaze is attracted by a sudden movement or when Schindler leans into her face.
- - -
Its nice that some measure of factual information is finally getting out about this. I've noticed that the cable news nets (at least CNN and MSNBC) are now properly dating the clips they're showing.

[CatWoman]

1. Thanks for posting this

I'm nominating for greatest page -- we need more informative threads like this.

[whistle]

2. These videos may be allowed in the courts of public opinion....

...but have any of the courts which heard or reviewed the case allowed those videos in as evidence that Terri is not in a PVS? It seems not.

So, why can the MSM keep repeatedly showing these doctored videos without so much as a disclaimer or a qualification?

[jmowreader]

3. The Schiavos aren't mentioning one other thing about the videos

At least, they're not mentioning them in polite company.

Those videos were shot in 2002--three years ago. From what I have been able to gather, she's worse now than she was then, and she wasn't in good shape then.

They're edited very well. They bring the exact reaction they're supposed to. But they're not real--they're Memorex.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Look At Other Signs On The Video

I posted days ago the age of the videos and photos being shown and how they have been totally distorted by the family and corporate media to jerk on emotions rather than presenting the facts as they are...and the reality as is it.

Hopefully few, if any, will ever have to spend days or hours at the bedside of a dying loved on some kind of life support...from ventilator to feeding tube...see the quality of life these people live and feel their suffering in silence. Go to a hospice or advanced care nursing home and talk to the people who work there...see how surreal the place is as you're surrounded by people who are prisoners in their failing minds and bodies. So few do it...we'd rather shove the old people out of the way when they get sick and avoid the topic of death out of fear and ignorance.

The coroprate media's distortions and lying in this issue has been a tremendous disservice and one I will never forgive CNNServative for.

First, they made me revisit my own decision to pull my mother's feeding tube and the agonizing that led to that decision and the week of waiting afterwards as she slowly faded away.

Second, is the false hopes and outright falicies that are aired without any real rebutal by medical professionals...putting the religious (xtian) issue ahead of the human or truly moral ones.

Sadly the damage has been done and anything the media does now to try to clean up their act is disengenuous and just covering their asses.

[stopbush]

5. Terri tape = This Year's Dean Scream n/t

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

6. My husband suffered a cerebral hemmorhage (GRAPHIC)

As soon as I got to the hospital where they had flown him from our little tiny regional hospital, I was told that during the flight he had stopped breathing and the techs had put him on a ventilator. I was told in the first few minutes that this was most likely fatal and that they would keep the ventilator on him until the next morning, at which time they would run a few tests to see if ANY kind of surgery could help. When I got in to see him, his arms were moving, his head was moving, his eyes were looking around, his mouth would either grimace or smile, he made noise. Every now and then, he would literally throw one leg straight up in the air. He looked in very bad shape, but alive. The next day, the doctor's report was very grim. His eeg showed only brain-stem activity, and at that time I was told that when they had put a shunt in his head to relieve the pressure, a lot of his brain matter blew right out of the shunt. The rest was saturated with blood. But, I said, he squeezes my hand, he tries to talk, he opens his eyes and tries to look around. No, said the doctor, just brain-stem reflexes, that's all it is. That same day I signed to have the ventilator removed and also signed to not have a feeding tube inserted. He lived for 8 days after that.

My point is, I could have made a video that looks like he was responsive, but TRUST me, he was NOT there. I am very glad that he and I had had talks about just this kind of situation and I knew exactly what he wanted.