Schiavo Again

John Grogan, a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, feels that we owe Michael Schiavo an apology for the slanders against him that "flew through cyberspace".

...I owe him an apology, as well.

I allowed myself to be swayed by the relentless whispers and slanders spread by those who made Terri Schiavo's unconscious life their obsession.

The rumors flew through cyberspace, sticking as they went: Just maybe Michael had choked and beaten his wife in a failed murder attempt... Just maybe his violence, not an eating disorder, had caused the brain damage, and now he was trying to cover his tracks by insisting she be allowed to die... Just maybe he wanted the insurance settlement, or to have her out of the way so he could remarry.

I did not advance the rumors as truth, but I did let them color my thinking and lead me to question his motives. Now we know, based on an exhaustive autopsy released Tuesday, that Michael Schiavo was pretty much on target all along.

The autopsy confirmed what Schiavo has long maintained - that his wife was profoundly and irreversibly brain-damaged and no amount of therapy was ever going to change that. ...

Not me. I believed him from the beginning. What a fix to be in. Michael Schiavo is an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances, doing the best that he can. He can be a little belligerent, but I imagine I would be more so. This is not the Peterson case. The Bush family takes it personally, though. Being wrong about an enemy is insufficient reason to give him any slack, no matter how small the fry may be.

Here's my previous Schiavo post.