Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says that he regrets that his comments about Terri Schiavo have been misinterpreted, a week after he had characterized the controversy over Terri Schiavo's case "much ado about nothing."
Schiavo was the young Florida woman whose death was at the center of a battle between her family members and the government. In 1998, eight years after suffering a heart attack that caused brain damage and left her in a permanent vegetative state, her husband sought to have her feeding tube removed against the wishes of her parents. The case worked its way through the courts and eventually former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and his brother, former President George W. Bush, both intervened.
"I don't think it needed to get to that level," Carson told the Tampa Bay Times when asked about government intervention in the case. "I think it was much ado about nothing. Those things are taken care of every single day just the way I described."
He also told the paper, "While I don't believe in euthanasia, you have to recognize that people that are in that condition do have a series of medical problems that occur that will take them out...Your job is to keep them comfortable throughout that process and not to treat everything that comes up."
The comments drew a rebuke from Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, who told a pro-life website "Dr. Ben Carson owes pro-life and medically vulnerable Americans an apology. Similarly, any pro-lifer supporting his campaign should take another look at the candidate's values."
Carson told another pro-life website, Life Site News, "I am steadfastly opposed to euthanasia. I have spent my entire career protecting life, especially the life of children."
"I regret that my recent comments about Terri Schiavo have been taken out of context and misinterpreted," he added.
Carson said his use of the term "much ado about nothing" was intended to make a point that "the media tried to create the impression that the pro-life community was nutty and going way overboard with the support of the patient."
Rebecca Kaplan
Rebecca Kaplan covers Congress for CBS News.
Ben Carson expands on earlier Terri Schiavo comments
By Rebecca Kaplan
/ CBS News
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says that he regrets that his comments about Terri Schiavo have been misinterpreted, a week after he had characterized the controversy over Terri Schiavo's case "much ado about nothing."
Schiavo was the young Florida woman whose death was at the center of a battle between her family members and the government. In 1998, eight years after suffering a heart attack that caused brain damage and left her in a permanent vegetative state, her husband sought to have her feeding tube removed against the wishes of her parents. The case worked its way through the courts and eventually former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and his brother, former President George W. Bush, both intervened.
"I don't think it needed to get to that level," Carson told the Tampa Bay Times when asked about government intervention in the case. "I think it was much ado about nothing. Those things are taken care of every single day just the way I described."
He also told the paper, "While I don't believe in euthanasia, you have to recognize that people that are in that condition do have a series of medical problems that occur that will take them out...Your job is to keep them comfortable throughout that process and not to treat everything that comes up."
The comments drew a rebuke from Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, who told a pro-life website "Dr. Ben Carson owes pro-life and medically vulnerable Americans an apology. Similarly, any pro-lifer supporting his campaign should take another look at the candidate's values."
Carson told another pro-life website, Life Site News, "I am steadfastly opposed to euthanasia. I have spent my entire career protecting life, especially the life of children."
"I regret that my recent comments about Terri Schiavo have been taken out of context and misinterpreted," he added.
Carson said his use of the term "much ado about nothing" was intended to make a point that "the media tried to create the impression that the pro-life community was nutty and going way overboard with the support of the patient."
In:- Jeb Bush
- Florida
Rebecca Kaplan covers Congress for CBS News.
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