William Cheshire's ESP

Jacob Sullum | March 25, 2005

Speaking of Terri Schiavo's consciousness or lack thereof, The New York Times ran a sidebar yesterday that was clearly intended to discredit William P. Cheshire, the neurologist who recently signed an affidavit suggesting that she may not be in a persistent vegetative state. Although the story had an obvious slant, Cheshire's bias and lack of thoroughness are hard to deny. The most damning part was a quotation from his affidavit: "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."

The distinct sense of a presence? Is this guy a doctor or a psychic?