today's Washington Post about this case:
--
The power of video images broadcast repeatedly on 24-hour cable news
programs and over the Internet was undeniable as interest in the case
surged in recent days. Images of Terri Schiavo appearing to smile, react to
voices and grunt were proof, the Schindlers said, that something was
clicking in her brain, that there was hope she could regain cognitive
abilities. But Michael Schiavo's experts said they were nothing more than
reflex actions, common among patients with brain injuries.
Because Terri Schiavo is not in a coma, her eyes are often open. Patients
who are in comas usually have their eyes closed and are in a "sleep-like
state" from which they cannot be aroused, experts say. But vegetative
patients, such as Schiavo, have almost normal sleep and wake cycles; they
sometimes move their lips or their hands.
"It's much harder on families and much harder on health care providers to
accept," said Ronald Cranford, a professor with the University of Minnesota
Bioethics Center, who worked as a consultant to Michael Schiavo.
The big question is whether these patients have cognitive abilities or have
hope of regaining them. Allen, who has seen images of Schiavo's brain at
conferences, said it is so damaged that key portions are reduced "to mush"
and it is clear her condition will not improve.
--
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59187-2003Oct21?language=printer
The parents are deluding themselves. She is not going to get better. Any
therapy is not going to help what's left improve. There is significant
brain damage to such an extent that she will be on a feeding tube and
possibly assisted breathing for the rest of her unnatural life. The parents
really need a good dose of reality here. The therapies they've discussed
are not going to revive any of the brain tissue. Rather its going to
effectively make them targets for con artists and Laetril purveyors. A
persistent vegetative state like she is in is not curable. All that is
barely functioning is some very low level systems. Nothing more.
larry
At 03:10 PM 10/22/2003, you wrote:
>*cough*
>
>
><http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story>http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story
><http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031021/ts_nm/life_c
>oma_dc> &u=/nm/20031021/ts_nm/life_coma_dc
>
>
>Governor Orders Feeding Resumed for Florida Woman
>
>
>TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) - Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday ordered
>doctors to resume tube-feeding a severely brain-damaged woman at the
>center of a battle between family members over whether she should live
>or die.
>
>
>Bush acted within hours of the state legislature passing a controversial
>bill giving him authority to overrule a court order under which
>nutrition and water for Theresa "Terri" Schiavo, 39, were cut off five
>days ago.
>
>
>Bush's office said he signed the bill into law and issued an executive
>order countering the court ruling which would be served to doctors
>caring for Schiavo, who has been in a vegetative state for more than 13
>years.
>
>
>The controversial bill, rushed through the Florida legislature in two
>days, was a last-ditch effort to save Schiavo. Without feeding tubes,
>she had been expected to die within two weeks.
>
>
>-------------
>
>
>Perhaps you should actually read that article, and the link you posted.
>But here, I'll help you:
>
>
>"We've been fighting for the right thing, which is to give her a
>chance," Schindler said. "She's never had a chance, and that's the most
>despicable part of this. She was literally shelved. She has not been out
>of this room over here in the hospice for three years."
>
>
>Schindler said his daughter would need physical therapy, because she
>hasn't had any in 10 years.
>
>
>"So we have to restore her physically first and then go after her brain
>damage," he said. "It's not as bad as what people think, or are saying
>that it is."
>
>
>Terri Schiavo, 39, suffered heart failure in 1990. Doctors said she is
>responsive but shows no significant cognitive ability, and that she was
>left in that condition when her heart failure cut the flow of oxygen to
>her brain, leaving it damaged.
>
>
>Schiavo is not terminally ill, but because of her condition, she cannot
>feed herself, so the feeding tube provides her with nutrition and water.
>
>
>***She left no written instructions about her wishes should she be
>incapacitated, but Michael Schiavo said she made it clear before her
>collapse that she did not want to be sustained with life support.***
>
>
>***Michael Schiavo collected more than $1 million in malpractice
>settlements stemming from his wife's collapse,***
>------------------------
>
>
>And he'd have a million bucks too if she were dead and the courts had
>not frozen the funds.
>
>
>-Gel
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Bill Wheatley [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 2:58 PM
>To: CF-Community
>Subject: RE: This is .....
>
> >In any case, the courts have apparently agreed there is enough grounds
>for them to stay this woman's execution.
>
>Dude thats bs the courts ruled she could be let off the tube.
>
>"In any case, the courts have apparently agreed there is enough grounds
>for them to stay this woman's execution."
><http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/10/21/coma.woman/index.html>http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/10/21/coma.woman/index.html
>
>
>
>
>----------
>[
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