Right all along.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Terri Schiavo felt nothing when she died on March 31, because her brain was so profoundly atrophied that it was less than half normal size. The neural damage was severe enough that she could not have felt pain, according to autopsy results released Wednesday.

But the opportunists who exploited the Schiavo tragedy for political gain - including President Bush, key Republican congressional leaders and 47 House Democrats - ought to be feeling embarrassment and shame as a result of the conclusions reached by the comprehensive postmortem.

No amount of therapy or treatment could have helped Schiavo recover any function, the pathologists determined. In addition, she was blind and could not swallow. Despite the desperate insistence of Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, it would have been impossible for her to recognize, respond to or even see them. Schiavo died painlessly of dehydration, not starvation, the autopsy reported.

The autopsy conclusively refuted allegations by the Schindlers and their fanatical supporters that Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, had strangled, drugged or otherwise abused her. No traces of morphine were found in her system, debunking the Schindlers' contention that the drug was being used to speed their daughter's death. All of the oft-repeated charges turned out to be, frankly, either delusions or lies.

The Schindlers were also lying to themselves, a sad but not uncommon response of family members to a loved one in Schiavo's condition. Their adamant insistence that Terri responded to them, smiled, followed objects with her eyes and even tried to speak were fantasies born of grief and desperation.

Why Schiavo's heart stopped beating 15 years ago, starving her brain of oxygen, remains a mystery. Despite exhaustive tests, the medical examiner failed to find evidence of an eating disorder that had been the suspected cause.

The postmortem affirmed that every step of the way, the court system carefully evaluated the medical evidence and correctly concluded that Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state from which she would never recover. That makes the subsequent vilification and threats from the court-haters in Congress even more reprehensible.

The issues raised by the Schiavo case are complex and worthy of continued national dialogue, absent the ugly political grandstanding. Terri Schiavo's legacy is to have indelibly imprinted the need for everyone to clearly communicate end-of-life wishes to family members and to declare those intentions in writing.

Sadly, the Schindlers have hinted that they don't consider the case closed. The best and most compassionate legal advice they could get now would be to let Terri rest in peace, so they can finally find peace themselves.