(The Corner) – The myths about the Terri Schiavo case are repeated so often, it can be a futile effort to keep the story straight. One such myth is that the family somehow edited videos of Terri to make it appear falsely that she was conscious. The latest example of this false claim comes gratuitously in a story on Jahi McMath in the New Yorker:
James Bernat, a neurologist at Dartmouth who helped develop the theory of brain death that formed the basis of the 1981 President’s Commission report, told me that Shewmon showed him some of the videos.
“My thoughts about this are not fully formed,” he said, adding, “I’m always skeptical of videotapes, because of the videos of Terri Schiavo.” Her family had released video clips that they presented as proof of consciousness, but the videos had been edited, giving the illusion that she was tracking people with her eyes, even though she was blind.
But the family did not edit the videos in the sense of cutting and pasting to give a false appearance. Rather, they posted snippets of unedited video for ease of watching–you know, just like news organizations do all the time. CONTINUE