A Tale of Two Ironies

Some ironic tidbits in the news this morning:

Irony 1:
Dr. Wilfred G. Bigelow, the Canadien surgeon who a) discovered by inducing hypothermia it is possible to conduct an open heart surgery and have the patient still alive at the end and b) invented the pacemaker, died of heart failure last week. Granted, he was 91, but still ...

Irony 2:
After the Vatican threw its miter into the Schiavo debate contending that by removing the feeding tube, the husband and courts were murdering Terri and besmirching the sanctity of life, word comes out now that the Popes death on Saturday followed his decision to not return to the hospital even though he, his doctors, and many of the holy folks in attendance, knew his condition was "increasingly grave." Based on what they told us last week, the cardinals were obligated to strap his papal ass to the bed if that's what it would take to get him plugged into a machine that would keep him alive. But no, here they are now talking about how serene he looks after finally being relived of all his suffering from the past several years.