The issue is really, not can she improve, but do we kill the disabled if they cannot improve?
Since we are perhaps not disabled, we can't really make this choice in a very educated manner for ourselves. Perhaps we would be at a place where we could not walk or talk but could see our grandchild and smell the baby smell of this child. That might be enough to make life worthwhile for many of us. There is some balalaika music that I find to be so incredible that I would find much of life worthwhile if I could hear it.
That said, there are some facts about life with a serious disability available.
86% of spinal cord injured high-level quadriplegics rated their quality of life as average or better than average. Only 17% of their ER doctors, nurses, and technicians thought they would have an average or better quality of life if they acquired quadriplegic (KA Gerhart et al., Annals of Emergency Medicine, 1994, vol. 23, 807-812).
No differences were found between 190 physically disabled persons and 195 "able bodied" persons on ratings of life satisfaction, frustration with life or mood (P Cameron et al., Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1973, vol. 41, 207- 214).
The duration of disability was positively related with acceptance of disability in persons with spinal cord injury-related paralysis. Severity of disability was of no importance in accepting life with a disability (F Woodrich & JB Patterson, Journal of Rehabilitation, 1983, July-Sept., 26-30).
60% of paraplegics reported feelings more positively about themselves since becoming disabled (C Ray & J West, Paraplegia, 1984, vol. 22, 75-86).
Interviews and tests administered to 133 persons with severe mobility disabilities revealed no differences between them and the nondisabled norm on psychosocial measures. In another study, no significant difference was found between persons with severe disabilities (requiring wheelchair use and daily personal assistance) and persons with no disabilities on quality of life measures (R Stensman, Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 1985, vol. 17, 87-99).
In a study of life satisfaction of quadriplegics, fewer than a third of those who used ventilators expressed dissatisfaction with their lives. There is evidence that life satisfaction scores are higher in persons who have had more time to adjust to disability (JR Bach & MC Tilton, Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 1994, vol. 75, 626-632).
Spinal cord injured rehabilitation patients were similar to the general population on self-ratings of depression, yet hospital staff consistently overestimated the patients' level of depression (LA Cushman & MP Dijkers, Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 1990, vol. 71, 191-196.
Three-quarters of persons with spinal cord injuries rated their quality of life as good or excellent. Amount of paralysis made no difference, but people who used ventilators rated their quality of life higher than those not needing ventilators (GG Whiteneck et al., Rocky Mountain Spinal Cord Injury System Report to the National Institute of Handicapped Research, 1985, 29-33.
Elderly paralyzed veterans rated their quality of life higher than similarly aged men without disabilities (MG Eisenberg & CC Saltz, Paraplegia, 1991, vol. 29, 514-520).
MARMEMA ADDED: "The issue is really, not can she improve, but do we kill the disabled if they cannot improve?
I AM RESPONDING: "BINGO!!!---And the answer should be no!!! Otherwise, we should just grab a copy of Hitler's MEIN KOMPF in our left hand, look in the mirror, raise our right hand and say SIEG HEIL!!!
MARMEMA ADDED: "Since we are perhaps not disabled, we can't really make this choice in a very educated manner for ourselves. Perhaps we would be at a place where we could not walk or talk but could see our grandchild and smell the baby smell of this child. That might be enough to make life worthwhile for many of us. There is some balalaika music that I find to be so incredible that I would find much of life worthwhile if I could hear it."
I AM RESPONDING: "I don't know if you have seen any of my other posts, but I have a severely mentally and physically disabled 19 year old daughter, who neither walks nor talks, who does not feed herself, who wears diapers and has a very rare type of dwarfism."
I AM ADDING: "She has almost died SEVEN TIMES. She was trached and on a respirator and oxygen---in our house with round-the-clock nursing---for over 3 years. She no longer needs it. During that time, she had a "feeding tube" just like Terri's. She no longer need it either."
I AM ADDING: "Needless to say, I UNDERSTAND what it is like to have a severely disabled adult child. And I am STILL PRO-LIFE!!! Terri's life and death should be left up to GOD, not man, just like OUR lives! (BTW, that does NOT mean we don't give medications or food or water!!!) We should NOT be able to discriminate against someone on the basis of what WE think of a disability or what WE think WE would want!
I AM ADDING: "Terri MADE her choice! She had the opportunity to make a Living Will---and chose NOT to---the effect being that she CHOSE LIFE---WITH intervention!
MARMEMA ADDED: "That said, there are some facts about life with a serious disability available."
I AM RESPONDING: "You provided some very interesting data. Another interesting tidbit is that something like 90% of all marriages fail in which there is a child with serious disabilites. My husband and I have had our own difficulties, but we have been married 22+ YEARS!