Terri's Fight - (Daily Thread/Updates) November 14-18

LOL!

"A low potassium will not cause a heart attack if the individual has a healthy heart with no cardiac history. If you factor in the paramedics actions, they run a D5W or D10W bolus, which elevates the blood sugar, thus diluting the potassium. This action will not cause a heart attack, stroke, or any other cardiac crisis".

Where'd you get your RN- a box of Crackerjacks??

Potassium is essential to maintaining a normal heart rhythm, and is responsible for the conduction of nerve impulses and muscle contraction. The ratio of potassium outside the cell to that inside the cell maintains polarity, allowing an electrical charge to conduct along a row of cells, causing the heart to beat.

Small changes in the potassium concentration outside cells can have substantial effects on the activity of nerves and muscles. This is particularly true of the heart muscle. Low levels of potassium cause increased activity (which can lead to an arrhythmia), whereas high levels cause decreased activity. Either situation can lead to cardiac arrest.

Normal serum potassium levels are between 3.5 mEq/L and 5.2 mEq/L. When potassium levels drop below 3.5 mEq/L the risk of heart arrhythmias increase correspondingly and rapidly. At 3.3 mEq/L the risk of heart arrhythmias and cardiac arrest increases by a factor of 100 times. Below 3.3 mEq/L the incidence of dangerous arrhythmias and carciac arrest increase exponentially for every .05 mEq/L decrease in serum potassium.

Terri Schiavo's serum potassium level upon admission was less than 2.5 mEq/liter, virtually assuring arrythmia, (ventricular fibrillation) and subsequent arrest.

The presence of elevated cardiac enzymes can be indicitive of an impending MI or can be a result of an MI. This elevation of cardiac enzymes results from damage the the cardiac muscle tissue. In the case of sudden cardiac arrest without the presence of damaged cardiac tissue there may in fact be NO elevated cardiac enzymes either before of after the arrest. MI yes- sudden cardiac arrest, no. There is infact a difference between a cardiac arrest (especially one attributable to electrocution or electrolyte imbalance) and a heart attack.

As for as "diluting" the serum potassium- this is staggeringly funny. The potassium is already critically low and you want to make it lower still? The administration of glucose does indeed serve to raise the level of potassium but not by diluting the serum potassium. Raising serum potassium to safe levels can be a slow process. I believe Mannitol is more effective for immediate effect.

Remember the Lizzie Borden jingle? Perhaps Michael, George and George should have jingles too, especially if they get away with murder (as Lizzie probably did; she was not convicted). Here's a start. Other doggerel invited :-)

Michael Schiavo beats his wife,
Chokes her till he wrecks her life.
Steals her money, puts her down,
Starves her dead and goes to town.

Georgie Greer, your soul is black,
You pick on girls who can't fight back.
When Terri begged Communion Bread,
You pulled her feeding tube instead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ha, good one!

Just found this:

The right to die panel brought to the Stetson community an opportunity to discuss the social and legal implications around a person's choice to end their life.

From left, Mannie Fernandez from the Hemlock Society, attorney George Felos (counsel on the Schaivo case) and Professor Flowers, representing the right to life. large photo here

There were no elevated cardiac enzymes. The EKG was normal and showed NSR.
As I said, a low K will not cause a cardiac crisis if the individual has a healthy heart without cardiac HX.
I do not dispute your contention K is essential to cardiac functioning.
If you are bolused with IV solution, D5W, say a liter in 15 minutes, or less, what are the effects to your blood sugar, thus K? DUH.
The doc stated the girl had no heart attack.
The K was not low to begin with. Where do you get this notion?
The chem panels, liver, etc were all WNL.
What is of interest is the anoxia/hypoxia which lead to O2 deprivation. And as we later found out, the extensive fractures.
Know-it-alls generally know less. Your tone is unwarranted.

Terri isn't PVS. It's my guess, based upon her responses to stimuli during her early treatment phase, she would have progressed to some level of cognitive ability and communicative ability.
She has been deprived of sensory stimulation since 1991. After all these years, if there is any neuro damage that has regenerated, and I believe there has been, she would be able to communicate more effectively with people.
This is the last thing her husband wants. If she talks, we find out the truth of what really happened that night to her.

Shyster Felos, you're such a fool

To think that Satan can ever rule.

You think all judges are mortal men,

but the Judge Of Man will come again.

That felt good....

Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden doesn't agree with your assessment of Terri's injury....hmmm, are you more qualified than he to offer an opinion?

Allegations of abuse

Baden. . . ruled out potassium imbalance and a heart attack as factors in Terri's mysterious collapse 13 years ago – which left her severely incapacitated and unable to speak – and pointed to head trauma and bone injuries as a more likely cause.

Baden said he studied a bone scan made in March 1991 at a rehabilitation facility that describes Terri as having a head injury: "That's why she's there, that's why she's getting a bone scan."

"A head injury can ... lead to the vegetative state that Ms. Schiavo is in now," he continued, adding the scan showed evidence of other injuries, bone fractures in her thigh, lower back, ribs and both ankles."

Florida governor, lawmakers defend 'Terri's Law'

The governor and attorney general are "properly defending" both the governor and the state of Florida against the claims raised by Schiavo, Byrd's motion reads. "However, the speaker, as constitutional presiding officer of the Florida House of Representatives, has an inherent responsibility to defend the authority of the House and of the Florida Legislature."

A 19-page amicus brief, prepared by attorneys Donald Rubottom and Thomas Tedcastle for the speaker, was filed with the motion. In it the authors contend the legislature has an absolute authority to change the law and these changes "can constitutionally affect the rights and obligations previously adjudicated by courts."

"The Legislature's role in establishing public policy is paramount, and its role in regulating the actions of the other branches [of government] is significant," they write.

Moreover, the legislature works continuously to change laws in response to unforeseen problems that arise from enforcement and judicial decisions made under existing statutes. In this case, the brief explains, concerns arose over insufficient protection for persons like Terri, and the legislature moved quickly to fix matters.

"HB-35E prospectively adds protection to the lives of certain incompetent residents of Florida reflecting the Legislature's dissatisfaction with the effect of the previous law," the brief declares.

Criminal cases reopened

As an example of this principle at work, Rubottom and Tedcastle point out that in 2001 the legislature did something very similar to what it chose to do recently for Terri - to protect possibly innocent convicts from court-ordered execution, it passed a law providing for post-sentencing DNA testing:

"Section 925.11 [of the Florida Code] arguably reopened hundreds of closed criminal cases. It provided new protections to convicts, allowing DNA testing to prove the innocence of inmates whose criminal cases were closed, a class including many with respect to whom the time to seek post-conviction relief had expired. Each inmate in these cases had been tried and convicted in the courts. The judgment in each of these cases was final, and the time for post-conviction relief had expired in many cases. Yet the Legislature added new protections to allow the convict to challenge the result of that final judgment. The Supreme Court has repeatedly approved of the purposes of that legislation."

There were few that complained that in passing a law allowing DNA testing the legislature "overreached" its jurisdiction.

HB-35E "adds new protections to the [constitutionally recognized] right to life of Terri Schiavo and other incompetents whose deaths by dehydration or starvation had been judicially ordered or approved in disputed cases as of Oct. 15, 2003. These protections were not previously provided by law and these protections, now enacted, can be implemented by the governor and upheld by this court without violating the separation of powers."

A classic executive guardianship role

As to whether or not the governor overstepped constitutionally set bounds, Rubottom and Tedcastle see the responsibility assigned to Bush in HB-35E - "to take responsibility for the nutrition and hydration of certain incompetents" - as a "classic executive guardianship role under the ancient doctrine of parens patriae ['parent of the country']."

"Petitioner [Michael Schiavo] apparently argues that this role of decision maker for the incompetent is not a proper executive function," they write. "But centuries of law contradict Petitioner's assertion. The court can take judicial notice of the many Florida statutes providing that the executive branch functions in a guardianship role for many incompetents, including juvenile offenders and certain disabled adults."

Byrd does not address the issue of Terri's constitutional right to privacy, which Felos charges has been violated. However, in a footnote the brief's authors remark they could find no cases where a statute enacted to provide protections to the lives of incompetent patients had been stricken by any court in the United States because it violated a right to privacy.

Other actions

While Byrd's attorneys were filing their amicus brief, Bush's legal representative was trying to get Schiavo's case dismissed on procedural grounds.

Last week, Kenneth Connor filed a motion with Judge Baird arguing that Schiavo's suit was invalid since neither the governor nor attorney general had been personally served notice and because it should have been filed in the state capital of Tallahassee where the law was enacted and the governor is based.

"The governor has a right to a home-venue privilege," Connor told the Tampa Tribune. Otherwise, Bush would have to "trot all over the state" every time someone sued him, Connor said.

Baird dismissed the motion, and Connor appealed to the 2nd District Court of Appeal, the same court that on several occasions had ruled against the Schindlers in their battle with Schiavo.

A brief from the governor defending the constitutionality of "Terri's Law" was due Monday, but Connor filed the appeal instead, triggering an automatic stay in the case until the issue is resolved.

Felos characterized Connor's filings as delay tactics and said he would probably file a motion asking Baird to vacate the automatic stay so the case could proceed while the appeal court decides the procedural issues.

"It's obvious to anyone looking at this that the governor is trying any legal tactic to delay this case being decided on its merits, and you have to wonder why," Felos told the Associated Press. "The obvious reason is that he thinks he's going to lose."

Jacob DiPietre, spokesperson for the governor, denied Bush was delaying the case or that he feared an ultimate defeat in the court.

"There's a procedure and process in place that every citizen has a right to, and Mr. Schiavo's attorneys didn't follow that process," DiPietre told WorldNetDaily. "So any delay that they are alleging is caused by them."

DiPietro called to mind the TV courtroom dramas "where a person shows up with a subpoena that he hands to somebody."

"That's how it's always done; that's every person's right," he explained. "But nothing like that happened in this case with the governor. [Schiavo's attorneys] are just demanding that [Bush] show up in court. But the governor has the right to be served and he has the right to have the case heard in his district."

DiPietro denounced as "absolutely not true" Felos' allegation that Bush is using delaying tactics because he is afraid of losing the case."

"The governor is supremely confident that the law the Legislature passed and his executive order are constitutional and will be upheld," DiPietro said.

Court filings, including Speaker Johnnie Byrd's brief and the petitions of the governor, are posted on the Schindler family's website.

WorldNetDaily's in-depth coverage of the tug of war over Terri Schindler-Schiavo.

Hammesfahr said the same thing as Baden.
We ruled out K imbalance, bulemia, and whatever the husband was ranting a long time ago.
Thanks msmagoo.
Maybe daylate is really MS in the flesh. Sure is an argumentative character.

You're so right.God always has a purpose, we don't always see it. While it has always been my hope that Terri would be restored to her family, I do know that His plan cannot be changed....He is Almighty. The outcome might not be apparent where Terri is concerned, but it will happen. Praise His Name. None would be here except for His will.

I have three fingers on my hand
They will not feed me on demand

Greer and Felos both agree
I am but a defective tree

bump

BONE SCAN report

Court Issues New Stay in
Schiavo Case
Appeals Court Issues New Stay Blocking
Challenge to Law From Terry Schiavo's
Husband

The Associated Press

LAKELAND, Fla. Nov. 15 — An appeals court has stepped in to at least temporarily
block a man's challenge to a law that restored his brain-damaged wife's feeding tube
in a contentious right-to-die case.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had faced a Monday deadline to justify the constitutionality of the
law, which was passed specifically to allow the governor to intervene in the case of
Terri Schiavo. The 2nd District Court of Appeal issued an indefinite stay late Friday,
hours after a lower judge lifted another stay.

Michael Schiavo now must explain to the state appeals
court by Tuesday why his challenge should be on a
fast track.

Schiavo had his wife's feeding tube removed last
month after years of legal battles with her parents, but
the governor ordered the tube reinserted six days later
under a quickly passed state law.

Schiavo sued Bush, and an appeal by the governor
triggered an automatic stay. Circuit Judge W. Douglas
Baird lifted the stay Friday, saying any delays in
removing the feeding tube violate Terri Schiavo's
constitutional right to privacy.

"The deprivation of this right is immediate, ongoing
and presumptively unconstitutional," Baird said from
the bench.

Attorneys for the governor immediately appealed, and
the new stay was issued.

"I'm not dragging my feet," Bush said after filing the
appeal. "I think it's appropriate in something that is a
matter of life and death that the procedures that we
believe are the appropriate ones should take place."

Calls for comment to Michael Schiavo's attorney
Saturday were not returned.

Pat Anderson, attorney for Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob
and Mary Schindler, said her "life continues to be
threatened by those forces who want to see her die
from starvation and dehydration. We are once again
grateful that the governor is doing everything in his
power to protect Terri's life."

Michael Schiavo says his wife would not want to be
kept alive artificially. She suffered severe brain damage
in 1990 when her heart temporarily stopped, cutting off
oxygen to her brain.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20031115_994.html

nic, just heard on the news that the DCA has made a decision on the Schiavo case. How do we find out what's happened?

Sorry about that folks....LOL..... didn't see that this has already been posted.

I don't know, it's not listed here: Florida 2nd DCA

If she talks, we find out the truth of what really happened that night to her.

Actually, I doubt she'd remember any of that. On the other hand, if he had tried to strangle his wife and been caught, he probably could have claimed they were having an argument and plea-bargained it down to a few years. A bigger question would be if she remembers what's happened since.

Michael Schiavo now must explain to the state appeals court by Tuesday why his challenge should be on a fast track.

Indeed, why is it that as the level of scrutiny increases the haste to put Terri do death does likewise? There are clearly a number of people who want Terri do die to cover up their collective misconduct; it is imperative that she die before the attempts to kill her can be proved wrongful.

I would defend your rights and liberties under the Constitution as well. Tree or not.