<H4>Hentoff joins slippery-slope crowd, slippery characters</H4>

I can't believe Nat Hentoff has actually bought into a slippery-slope argument on Terri Schiavo.

First, Nat, she was in a persistent vegetative state — a phrase that somehow managed to escape appearing in your entire column.

Second, Judge Greer is a judge, not a medical doctor. In a wrongful death suit, does a judge do traffic reconstructions, construction accident reconstructions or similar work?

NO! He or she relies on the testimony of expert witnesses.

In the Schiavo case, we have nearly a decade of expert witness testimony to her mental state.

And, that expert testimony disagrees with your unfounded assertions, too.

Had you seen her in person, Nat, or were you going by a 15-second video clip?

And, even if you have seen her in person, are you a medical doctor? We know the answer to that one is no.

Nat, although I disagree with it, I have admired your principled stand on right-to-life issues. But you're just plain wrong on this one.

Update April 1: A comment from Salon.

The press also downplayed references to a 2000 trial at which Schiavo’s extremely conservative Roman Catholic parents conceded that even if Terri had told them she would never want to be kept alive with a feeding tube, they would not have honored that request (an acknowledgment that goes a long way toward explaining their actions in the case). For the most part, the press portrayed Schiavo’s parents, Terry and the hospice protesters as simply being overly concerned and vaguely conservative. And nothing more.