The coroner’s report is in for Terri Schiavo, and it’s certainly a slap in the face for all the theocons who were absolutely, positively convinced that Schiavo was not in a vegitative state, that she consciously interacted with her parents and doctors, and that Michael Schiavo was acting as the grim reaper. The report ruled that Ms. Schiavo’s brain had lost nearly half its mass, and that the lateral geniculate nucleus (i.e. the visual processing cortex) had essentially degenerated to nothing.

In other words, Terri Schiavo was completely blind, as well as severely brain damaged.

Wingnut radio show hosts, of course, took to the airwaves trying to discredit the coroner as being “pressured by the judge to give a report favorable to the courts” and to Michael Schiavo. This is, of course, absolute bullshit. My dad was a homicide investigator and medical examiner for over 15 years, and the one thing you learn very quickly about coroners is that they have absolutely no vested interest in distorting data or doctoring results. In fact, of all governmental agencies, departments of medical examiner are some of the least “swayable” government officials – again, because they stand to gain nothing from distorting the facts.

If you want to look at fact distortion, William Saletan of Slate has a wonderful piece on how the Schindler family and their lawyers (aided by many theocon activists) distorted the facts in their judicious editing of videotaped “interaction” with Ms. Schiavo. The Schindler family tried to paint Michael Schiavo as a murderer because their daughter supposedly visually “followed” the movements of “a balloon” being moved off-camera by her mother. As Saletan reports, not only was this impossible for Terri Schiavo to do, but the complete, unedited video shows more clearly how completely in denial the Schindlers were that their daughter was just an artificially-sustained bio-shell – Terri had long since ceased to be as a truly sentient being.

With all of this, Michael Schiavo certainly has the right to counter-sue the Schinders, the theocons and others who tried to frame him as a heartless, cold-blooded killer. But I think he’ll be the better man and simply move on with his life – something the Schindlers need to do, as well.