Addendum

Dan Munz has also seen footage of Deborah Bedolla's abortion of a column (never have I thought that appellation more appropriate). All I'd add to his criticism is that there are a few other doctors, aside from the heart surgeon-cum-neurologist from Tennessee, who dissent from the majority view on Terri Schiavo's condition. Here is how Ronald Cranford, a University of Minnesota Medical School neurologist, described this guy, the standard bearer for the alternative medical opinion:

"He has to be bogus, a pro-life fanatic. You'll not find any credible neurologist or neurosurgeon to get involved at this point and say she's not vegetative."

He said there was no doubt that Ms. Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state. "Her CAT scan shows massive shrinkage of the brain," he said. "Her EEG is flat - flat. There's no electrical activity coming from her brain."

In other words, the reason there is no medical "consensus" as defined by Bedolla is that the Schindlers, the Bushes, Randall Terry, et al, seem to have no trouble locating theophysiognomist quacks like Cheshire to give "expert" testimony.

Just how, for the sake of those interested, did Cheshire arrive at his variant diagnosis? Let the man himself explain:

Although Terri did not demonstrate during our 90-minute visit compelling evidence of verbalization, conscious awareness or volitional behavior...yet the visitor has the distinct sense of the presence of a living human being who seems at some level to be aware of some things around her [emphasis mine].

That's right folks, telepathy. So only one question lingers: don't you have to be born a telepath, and if so, what good is medical school training?