Thanks, I appreciate any corrections. My understanding was that she suffered accute brain damage due to oxygen deprivation.
That was my understanding also. I believe I read it was 8 to 10 minutes but I have to find that link too. :groan: What was never clear was why she wasn't breathing correctly and was making gurgling noises.
Baden explained to host Greta van Susteren it was unlikely for a woman of Terri's age at the time to have a potassium imbalance, unless she had certain types of diseases, which she didn't have.
"Too little potassium can cause the heart to stop beating properly and lead to lack of blood flow to the brain and death of brain cells by lack of oxygen, but that's very unusual, Greta, extremely unusual," he said.
That Terri's heart was healthy would rule out the likelihood of cardiac arrest, he said.
"The reason she's in the state she's in is because there was a period of time, maybe five minutes or eight minutes, when not enough oxygen was going to her brain," said Baden. "That can happen because the heart stops for 5 or 8 minutes, but she had a healthy heart, from what we can see."
Baden said he studied a bone scan made in March 1991 at a rehabilitation facility that describes her as having a head injury: "That's why she's there, that's why she's getting a bone scan."
"A head injury can cause, can lead to the vegetative state that Ms. Schiavo is in now," he continued, adding the scan showed evidence of other injuries, bone fractures.
Van Susteren asked if he were suggesting a potassium imbalance caused a fall that led to a head injury, or perhaps some "pre-existing head injury [led] to her passing out."
"Something totally different," he answered. Because cardiac arrests triggered by low potassium are so rare, "the other issue is: Could it have been due to some other cause, which is raised by the family. [That] has to be looked at."
Baden said the injuries were caused by some kind of trauma. "The trauma can be from an auto accident, the trauma can be from some kind of beating that she obtained from somebody somewhere. It's something that should have been investigated in 1991 when those findings were fresh," and added, "Maybe they were. Maybe they were investigated by the police at that time."