The NYT says many people who intervened in the Terri Schiavo case thinking they were saving a sentient human being have some apologizing to do.

An excerpt:

There is no evidence that Ms. Schiavo's husband did any of the awful things attributed to him, and no hope that her greatly damaged brain would ever have recovered. The courts were right to conclude that she should be allowed to die after 15 years in what her doctors described as a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.

The autopsy and a broader investigation conducted by medical examiners in Florida inevitably left some questions without definitive answers. That reflects the limitations of a pathological examination and the uncertainties of clinical medicine. But what the inquiry did reveal leaves little doubt that death was the merciful finale to this tragic case.

The medical examiners found Ms. Schiavo's brain "profoundly atrophied," only half the normal size, and said that "no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons." Although the autopsy could not definitively establish that Ms. Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state, the findings were deemed "very consistent" with that diagnosis. She was completely blind and could not have swallowed food or water safely on her own. Those conclusions underscore how shallow and cynical were the judgments-from-afar by the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, who is a doctor, and by other Republicans in Congress who contended that Ms. Schiavo looked responsive and that her condition might be amenable to treatment.

Schiavo's parents still maintain Terri interacted with them and could have responded to treatment. I respectfully suggest they were fooling themselves.

That's harsh, but I speak from some experience on this issue: My father died on Dec. 5, 2000. The day before, he had suffered a heart attack in hospital and suffered brain damage due to a lack of oxygen.

Three years before, he had hovered near death after suffering internal bleeding from an ulcer (his case was similar to Gordon Lightfoot's). Back in those dark days, however, I never had the feeling  he would die. And the doctors had told us to prepare ourselves for that very real possibility.

Anyways, I travelled from Toronto to Edmonton as quickly as  I could after hearing the news. I went straight to Dad's hospital room that Dec. 4 evening. And as soon as I saw him, my immediate reaction was: "He's dead."

His body was there on life support, there were vital signs, but he was dead. The essence of Dad -- his soul? -- wasn't there any more.

Dad -- a vigorous, vital, hard-working guy his entire life -- had made it clear he wouldn't want to live if life meant being hooked up to a machine 24/7.

His heart kept trying to stop. The doctors would restart it. Finally, they said if it stops again, did we wish to implement a 'do not resuscitate' order?

My mom said yes. My brother and I backed her 100 per cent.

And in the late morning of Dec. 5, we stood around his bed, held his hand and kept him company as his heart slowly stopped.

Finally, doctor came in, grabbed my mother by the upper arms, and whispered in her ear: "It's over. I'm sorry."

The life of Walter Hryhory Doskoch -- born June 14, 1926; died Dec. 5, 2000 -- was officially declared ended. I haven't stopped missing him. I never will.

I guess based on my life experience, I would ask Terri's parents: "How could you not know she was in a persistent vegetative state?"

I would ask the same question of Bill Frist, the putative doctor, given that he said she looked responsive (Jon Stewart mocked him on The Daily Show tonight).

Again, after hanging around hospitals watching medical tests done, some of the things they were doing to Terri Schiavo were to test responsiveness. The nerves they were trying to stimulate should have produced involuntary responses. They didn't.

Why couldn't Frist see that? She was apparently blind, yet he could conclude, without examining her, that she responded to visual stimuli.

Polls at the time showed a backlash against right-wing politicians for their unprecendented meddling in this tragic situation.

Thank goodness for that outburst of common sense.

These are deeply painful, personal situations. It would have been quite the nightmare had my dad's death turned into a political football.

And as far as I can see, the way around it is for people to sign living wills stipulating whether they want their live prolonged by extraordinary measures should disaster befall them. That way, we clearly know what their wishes would be.

I have no doubt the Schiavos loved their daughter very much, but my guess is they wanted her life prolonged because they didn't want to lose her.

That impulse is human, understandable and wrong.

Ultimately, it was Terri's decision. The courts decided it was her wish.

As for people like Brian Darling, who wrote a memo for Florida Sen. Richard Martinez explaining how to exploit the situation for political gain, they're beneath contempt.