Woman's Sustaining Care Resumed- But Experts Say No Hope Exists For Her Recovery

The Washington Post ^ | October 23, 2003 | Rob Stein

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Life support for Terri Schiavo was resumed yesterday in a Florida hospital room, but many experts said there is virtually no hope that she will ever recover, despite her parents' desperate hopes.

"If it's over a year, she's not ever going to get up," said Fred Plum, a professor emeritus at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. "You just don't see it. It just doesn't happen."

Schiavo, 39, has been in a persistent vegetative state since her heart stopped for unknown reasons in 1990. A feeding tube in her stomach was removed Oct. 15 after her husband, Michael, who said his wife had told him she would not want to be kept alive under such circumstances, won a long series of court battles to have life-sustaining nourishment withdrawn so she could die.

[Wheee The People]

"The CAT scan shows massive atrophy of the brain. It shows there's been significant shrinkage of the entire brain. What Terri Schiavo manifests is a classic vegetative state.

Not according to all the wannabe Doctors here on FreeRepublic who know otherwise...the reality is that we conservatives are torturing poor Terri. We have made her the poster child for the "Right to Life" movement but the debate is now a circus. After 13 years of hell on earth we will now extend that period.

In our zeal to save Terri, we quibble and snort over the exact terms of "coma" or "vegetative" and because medical science isn't exact we then beat up anyone who doesn't use the term they way we want it used. ~sigh. Vegetative or near vegetative is the same thing to Terri. Like modern day Pharisees we wrap ourselves in the cloak of righteousness, but it’s Terri who suffers. Do we ever consider if Terri does want to die?

May God bless Terri, and may HE forgive the conservatives who won't let her wishes be carried out.

[HELLRAISER II]

The more research I do on the subject of her husband leads me to believe or in this case not believe anything he say's. However I hope at some point she can signal her wishes, whether it's blinking her eyes several times or something similar so that she can choose herself.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Blessings to him. And it sounds like he has an angel for a mother.

[Littlejon]

This whole thing, from the first time I heard of it, has made me wonder about those "experts" and where they got their medical degrees.

My wife's cousin had an aneurism 12 years ago & was in a vegetative state. Her mother cared for her 24 hours a day, only leaving her side to do daily chores or to take a bath. The doctors told her to take Deanna off of life support because she would "never" recover. She, too, was on a feeding tube because she couldn't eat for herself. She literally never moved. 3 years later Deanna "woke up" one day and talked to the people around her. The doctors never could explain it. She told her family how she could hear everything they said to her. She felt every needle going into her arms, saw everyone who came into the room (within her sight) and how she tried to speak or move or do something ot let them know she was still there but couldn't. She talked about how she prayed and wished she could do the things she used to do, but finally resigned herself to the the fact that she couldn't. She was hardly a lifeless blob of flesh, devoid of feelings or thoughts. I cannot imagine what she wnet through knowing that every day she could hear, see, smell and taste things around her but couldn't move or react to them.

Unfortunately, a year later she slipped back into a coma from another aneurism & has largely remained that way to this day. A couple of years ago she started moving again. She responded to people and could utter sounds when asked to do so. When you see her she can move her hear slightly and respond to your questions with a slight hand movement or "grunt". She is still on the feeding tube, but otherwise she can at least respond to the things around her in some way. Her mother remains by her side 24 hours a day. She literally never leaves the house.

When I hear these people talk about Terri Schiavo as a "vegetable" and how she will never recover, I think about these doctors who told Betty her daughter would never recover and that she should "get on with her life" and "let Deanna go". Betty, to her credit, said that God gave her Deanna and she wasn't going to question his decision to His decision to have her live in that state. Her responsibility was to provide for her family and that was what she intended to do until the day she died.

I imagine Terri's parents are cut from the same mold. God bless people like that & I pray that He will show these "experts" that He is in control and that He is the ultimate judge on who should live and die, not them.

[tbpiper]

a)Schiavo, 39, has been in a persistent vegetative state
b) since her heart stopped for unknown reasons in 1990.

a) persistent lie
b) husbands first attempt to have her 'die with dignity'.

[PleaseNoMore]

BTW, Chuck was "brain dead" and his mom "pulled the plug" after we all got together and discussed doing so. It was the most heartwrenching thing I have ever been part of. The agony of it all was literally suffocating us all in that room. They pulled the plug and he began breathing on his own within seconds. He was put back on life support but the machine only assisted him. Later he was weaned from it. He also had a feeding tube but that was later removed after his mom, on a whim, gave him some soup one day and he swallowed it. While not identical to Terri the similarities are there. Never underestimate the human will to live and recover.

[editor-surveyor]

"Schiavo, 39, has been in a persistent vegetative state since her heart stopped for unknown reasons in 1990..."

I guess we should expect this sort of fecal material from the Washington Com-Post.

[GO65]

We are not God - God determines when it is time for one to leave earth.

By that reasoning, humans should be kept alive by whatever means possible even if it goes against their wishes. Sorry, I can't agree with that.

[PleaseNoMore]

He is her life and she is his. I just wish that every person who has said "let Terri go because she is a vegetable" could be at my house this thanksgiving to see our "vegetable" ( Chuck was diagnoses as being in a PVS as well ) eat turkey.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

What is interesting about your characterization is that the mother has "come around" to caring for him 100%. I hope that no one demonized her as her views evolved. The intial decision to "pull the plug" was done out of compassion, I assume.

[Frapster]

I"ve seen the videos and smiling, opening your eyes and generally responding to other people is not a vegetative state last I checked.

[HELLRAISER II]

I can agree with that, I guess what makes this case so devisive is the fact that when we see this woman we think of our own spouse or our own children and anybody with an ounce of compassion wouldn't wish this on their worst enemy much less their own family. But what people here at Free Republic need to understand is that just because you may or may not want her to die, doesn't mean that you're callous and uncaring. In fact, wanting her to be released from this life maybe meant as a compassionate statement. Regardless of what stance we may or may not have on the subject, we all probably would rather this woman recover and walk away. But the truth of the matter is that will probably never happen.

[najida]

No biggie, unless of course you did want to die and nobody would let you. That would be Titanic, would it not?
_____

I have allowed to die and set by holding the hands of a grandfather, father, mother and husband. I do believe in letting go when it is time.

There is a big difference with dying and being disabled. You would be amazed at the number of severly disabled folks (and I mean, no body motion and a few eyeblinks) who won't approve of DNR orders.

It isn't until you are 'there' on the other side (ie, in that body) that your perspective changes.

[T.Smith]

I also want to say that the Florida Legislature was just plain wrong in giving Gov. Bush the power to review this case. It's terrible public policy to legislate for one special case. Special cases are for the courts. If we can change the law in a day, on a whim, then we don't have rule of law. Rule of law made America great and it was the backbone of everyone of our freedoms. We try and establish rule of law in other countries, because it's vital for economic growth and personal liberty. More and more, we've moved away from the rule of law, and it's dangerous. You can't have a society where the rules that you live by can change any day, and can change retroactively.

This is so right that it bears repeating over and over!

[Tax-chick]

The only reason she's been "suffering" is that Schiavo wouldn't allow her to receive decent care. Unless you believe that simply being mentally handicapped is "suffering," and that every person in that condition would prefer to be dead ...

Either she has consciousness and is aware of her surroundings, in which case she would appreciate and be comforted by love and humane care ... or she has no consciousness, in which case she's not suffering now, and hasn't been all along.

It's not impossible that she could communicate, not to mention swallow food on her own, if given the opportunity that has been denied her. Maybe she would say she wanted to die; you're right, we don't know. Michael Schiavo and his lawyer are simply not believable information sources.

[ampat]

More experts who know less about the subject than they think they do.

[Spunky]

"I heard on the Glen Beck show this morning during a news break that they had brought her back to that death-house of a hospice again today.",

Actually her husband had her taken back late yesterday and the parents weren't advised of it. The brother had gone to the hospital to see her and they said; "She isn't here."

[HELLRAISER II]

Of course you are right and unfortunately some of us will have to make a decision on something like this in our lifetime when one of our own is lying on that bed. When this happens, it is possible that our perspective may change. I know it would be hard to say goodbye to someone you love, but on the other hand love may be exactly why I would do it.

[PleaseNoMore]

She made the decision to remove him from life support based upon the opinion of a neurologist. I don't think it was her wishes to do it but her wishes were also not to leave him on a ventilator. She was "damned is she did and damned if she didn't" so I guess you could say that it was a compassionate decision. As soon as he began breathing on his own he was hers, so to speak. From then on out she made sure that she had more than one opinion before proceeding with any of his following surgeries to relive pressure from his brain, his broken bones, etc. so she didn't "come aroun". She did what she would have done the whole time had she not been given the "you should do it because he is a vegetable" opinion by the attending neurologist.

[Tax-chick]

we all probably would rather this woman recover and walk away. But the truth of the matter is that will probably never happen.

You're probably right ... I have my doubts about a few people :-), but maybe it's just differing communication styles ...

The question then, given that she's unlikely to recover the abilities you and I have, is (1) whether you consider a life at diminished capacity worth living, and (2) whether you believe a person should be deprived *by others* of a life *they* don't find adequate.

As I said in another post, it's possible that with therapy she may communicate clearly, which would greatly alter the issue. Do you kill an innocent person who has expressed a desire to live, simply because she is handicapped and likely to remain so?