[Apologetics] A VERY Depressing Poll

[Stuart D. Gathman]

On Fri, 25 Mar 2005, Art Kelly wrote:

> >From a USA Today article at
> http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20050325/1a_bottomstrip25_dom.art.htm
> 
> A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll last weekend found that
> 61% would have a spouse's feeding tube removed under
> similar circumstances.

The "similar circumstances" is a lie.  That poll asked whether the
feeding tube should be removed for a "spouse on life support" - a
classic polling technique from "How to lie with statistics."

Most peoples reaction to the Terri case is driven by the "facts"
provided them by the media:

(Note - this is what people are told, it is mostly not true)

o Terri is on life support
o Most experts who examined her agree that Terri is in a PVS
  o Some make the even more ridiculous statement that Terri is "braindead".

Given those "facts", removing the feeding tube is entirely reasonable,
especially considering this real fact:

o In Florida, the legal guardian of a PVS patient has the authority
  to stop feeding and/or pull the plug.

The problem is, Michael and the courts make only cursory efforts to 
investigate the truth of the PVS claim, despite a large sum of money made
available for the purpose.  Instead, the money has been spent on establishing
the "truth" of the claim by judicial fiat.

-- 
	      Stuart D. Gathman <stuart at bmsi.com>
    Business Management Systems Inc.  Phone: 703 591-0911 Fax: 703 591-6154
"Confutatis maledictis, flamis acribus addictis" - background song for
a Microsoft sponsored "Where do you want to go from here?" commercial.