From the Toronto Star article [HERE] : But because she's been in a persistent vegetative coma, she won't be experiencing anything, he explains.” She is not in a persistent vegetative coma or state. Her measured awareness rises above the threshold for those two states on the Glascow scale.
”When someone loses the higher brain function, if the cerebral cortex is gone, "there's no consciousness whatsoever, no sense of self-awareness, no sense of discomfort. They're living on the brain stem, with automatic respiration. If nothing but the brain stem is alive, she can't be aware of anything." But Terri follows commands, so there is a level of awareness. You asserted that Terri has no cerebral cortex functioning now. The wording does not state that such is the case with Terri, and rightly so because the opining physician cannot know one way or the other, not having tested Terri. Sorry, that link proves none of the assertion that Terri no longer has a functioning cerebral cortex.
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From the StPetersburgTimes, Mary Jo Melone article [HERE ]: "I don't think it is widely appreciated just how damaged her brain is," said Walker, an internist, who has followed the case closely by reading the public record. If her factual medical records are not yet public record, what this physician is going on are the videos and things printed by reporters and to be read in depositions. He asserts large claims, but there is no CT scan or brainscan to substantiate his OPINION.
Schiavo's cerebral cortex, he said, is mostly gone. It was destroyed by the loss of oxygen she suffered when she had a heart attack 13 years ago. I’m sorry, but this is an unsubstantiated opinion, not a test verified medical fact. Once gone, the cortex cannot grow back, Walker said. The space it once occupied in Schiavo's skull is now filled with spinal fluid. I would caution any reading that assertion that it was believed Karen Quinlan’s cerebral cortex (she was in a deeper coma state for many years before they turned off her respirator and she continued to breath on her own) was withered and the space filled with spinal fluid, but autopsy proved that to be a false assumption. Sorry, this too is opinion, not medical test verified fact.
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From the BBC News article [HERE]: (A reporter who would post the following without either researching the facts or having the facts but choosing to mischaracterize them is a hard one to believe further on …) Mr Schiavo's lawyer says the money has been spent on medical bills. Yes, it’s been spent, but Judge Greer secretly allowed the raiding of Terri’s rehabilitation trust fund to pay Felos, the attorney. That hardly qualifies as ‘spent for medical bills!’
Mrs Schiavo's brain scans have not been made public but Dr Walker has followed the case closely through media reports and court records.
"The majority of her cerebral cortex - the part of the brain that thinks and feels - has been destroyed and replaced by fluid," he said. This is the same Dr. Walker of the StPeteTimes, Melone article. And again, he has not stated that he has seen the scans, he is merely stating his opinion of what he believes to be the case from following the public records. This article is also not a definitive answer to the state of Terri’s cerebral cortex. Sorry to have to be so negative, but these articles are not sufficient to base an assertion upon.
It is possible that Terri’s cerebral cortex has atrophied with so little stimulation as accomplished by the commands of her 'guardian' adulterous defrauding abusive husband, but none of the material in the three articles can substantiate that her cortex has atrophied. And we ought to look questioningly upon them because there is video indicating Terri is above the response threshold for persistent vegetative state, and according to some physicians who have actually examined her in person. To be fair, the court’s appointed physician who examined Terri in person and is seen in one of the video records, has stated that he believes her responses are reflexive in nature and not indicative of comprehension or awareness. Which brings me to one last point, a point which was addressed by a poster previously (TheOtherOne): paraphrasing, 'when there is a question or disagreement, then we ought err on the side of life.'