Posted on 03/19/2005 4:30:22 PM PST by ambrose
SCHIAVO Q&A
By Palm Beach Post Staff and Wire Reports
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Terri Schiavo's case has mixed emotion and medical science into a sometimes incomprehensible blend. Here, according to medical experts, are answers to common questions:
Q: What happened to Schiavo?
A: On Feb. 25, 1990, at age 27, she suffered cardiac arrest as a result of a potassium imbalance. Court-appointed doctors have found her to be severely brain-damaged because oxygen was cut off from her brain. The doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state that offers no hope of recovery.
Q: What is a persistent vegetative state, and how does it differ from a coma?
A: A coma is a profound or deep state of unconsciousness. The patient is alive but unable to react or respond to things going on around around her. People have awakened from comas and gone on with their lives. In a coma, the patient looks asleep and is unresponsive.
A persistent vegetative state, which sometimes follows a coma, is a condition in which someone has lost awareness of the world around her but remains in a sleep-wake cycle. The individual loses the higher cerebral powers of the brain, but the functions of the brain stem, such as respiration (breathing) and blood circulation, remain relatively intact. In this state, the patient may look as if he or she is awake.
Q: But why does Schiavo look like she's smiling?
A: Her parents say she is aware of what's going on around her and reacts to her surroundings and to people who talk to her. But experts say it is extremely common for someone in a persistent vegetative state to look alert, as if she knows what's going on. Medical experts say Schiavo exhibits extremely primitive reflexes, nothing more. For example, she might turn or jerk in response to a loud noise. These are primitive functions directed by the small part of the brain that is still intact.
Spontaneous movements may happen and the eyes may open in a response to external stimuli, but the patient does not speak or obey commands. Patients in a vegetative state may appear somewhat normal. They may occasionally grimace, cry or laugh. The court has found that Schiavo does not consistently respond to stimuli. Doctors say her actions are reflexes, not a consciously directed effort by the brain's cortex.
Q:What will happen to her now that the tube has been removed?
A: There's no way to tell for sure what will happen, but the kidneys might be the first to react. In such cases, urine output decreases and patients begin to stop secreting fluids. The mouth begins to look dry and the eyes appear sunken. Patients will look thinner because the body tissues have lost fluid. The heart rate gradually goes up and blood pressure goes down. That leads to breathing changes that culminate in the rest of the body shutting down. Depending on how strong she is, she might take two to three weeks to die.
Q: Will she feel any pain?
A: In a vegetative state, medical experts believe the higher cortical functions — those brain functions that allow us to experience the world around us — have been suspended. The patient is, in effect, unconscious. It would be difficult to know if she experienced any discomfort, doctors say, because no one can talk with her. Because the more primitive functions remain, the body would try to maintain life, so there may be some grimacing or other apparent reaction to what's happening. If she seems uncomfortable, doctors can give medicines to relieve pain and relax her. Doctors say she should not experience pain as we experience it. Usually, there are no signs of a change except a gentle and quiet transition from breathing to non-breathing. Doctors who have witnessed the procedure in other patients call it a dignified death.
Q: What if the feeding tube is reinserted?
A: If it's replaced within the first few days — as it has been done before with Schiavo — a patient can recover from dehydration. If the tube is replaced after two or three weeks, she likely would still die. Replacing the tube doesn't always lead to recovery.
"But experts say it is extremely common for someone in a persistent vegetative state to look alert, as if she knows what's going on. Medical experts say Schiavo exhibits extremely primitive reflexes, nothing more."
By this definition most of these "medical experts" along with many politicians are actually in a PVS. Should we pull the plug on them?
Everyone seems to be biased. The judge, the appeals court, the legislature, the insurance company, the LEOs, the Bishop!, Jeb, GWB, the attorney generals both state and federal, the media, the people, the legislature....everyone.
But here on FR we know the truth.
That's a hypothesis not supported by fact. The enzymes associated with cardiac arrest were not in Terris' blood when she was treated at the hospital and her EKG showed no abnormalities.
"This bill doesn't affect anyone other that the parties in this case."
LOL - Having my representatives using their time to attack a State judicial system sure effects the time that they are putting in on Federal concerns...
Yep. They won't be able to work on those farm subsidies or the latest "Robert C. Byrd" byway. What a crime!
"However, we will have more and more cases like this as medical science keeps people alive longer and longer."
The woman has a simple feeding tube because she cannot shallow. That hardly constitutes "extraodinary" measures or some great advance of medical science. Like someone pointed out earlier. Christopher Reeves was on more life support than Terri.
I strongly recommend that people think twice about a living will. If you chose to do one. Spell out in exacting detail what you would desire. There are examples where witholding simple nutritution is considered a violation of a "living will" even when the person that signed the will did not intend this. Be careful what you sign up for - consider your families wishes.
Would you please add to your list Terri's bone scan in '91 (?) that showed trauma. Would you also please send your list to the above bozo journalist who can't be bothered getting his facts straight? I'd sent it myself, but it's your post.
"Doctors who have witnessed the procedure in other patients call it a dignified death."
Indeed! Physicians like Kevorkian maybe!
...and I just LOVE this one-use legislation. What about equal protection and all. Didn't the Florida law get shot down because it was directed against just Mrs. Schiavo's rights and didn't deny them to everyone?
Feel free to send it, you may have more info -- I just took it off http://www.terrisfight.org , where they have a lot of pertinent, factual information, including the hospital discharge papers, which mention the trauma to her bones.
"How accurate is a PVS diagnosis?"
You would probably get a more accurate diagnosis by calling the "pyshic hot line."
Palm Beach Post, huh? Yup, no agenda there.
"And avoid having the federal government take control of your healthcare, the bill they are trying to push thru is not good for the rest of us and our families."
That is nonsense and ridiculous fear mongering.
http://www.datenschlag.org/howto/atem/english/DiM89.html
"Gentle", effective and deadly.
Done "well", it leaves no obvious sign of injury.
"Michael is now a registered nurse."
If he is he must have gotten his degree from the Marquis De Sade School of Nursing. He should not be licensed.
"Done "well", it leaves no obvious sign of injury."
Yeah, all those Nazi war criminals would be jeolous of these wonderful advances in state sanctioned murder.
After she had her final stroke, she was unconscious, and my sisters and I sat with her until she died, which was a week after the stroke. About 24 hours before she died, she started to moan with each exhallation. A nurse came in and put a pain patch on her, and the moaning ceased after about an hour. She died early the next morning. This was what my mom wanted so we acceded to her wish. However, she clearly dehydrated over the last week, and it was NOT painless. I was there, and I know.
"As for the family, it really depends on what kind of family you got :-)"
Can't argue with that! :-)
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