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.
No, never left, I was reading the linked post, you're correct to a certain extent. Tarantula believes Terri feels no pain, that's not to say Terri is brain dead. There is a difference.
God bless you for taking care of your parents.
What a pity such disinformation was repeated by Glenn on his program. He has done so well speaking out on Terri's behalf. But I have noticed (and it may not have been his fault regarding Terri), he is frequently sloppy with the facts.
I've got my eye on a really cute outfit at Neiman's... have a credit card? ; )
I think you missed my point.
Assisted suicide is illegal, but murder of people who can't object to it is ordered by a judge. What's wrong with this picture?
If I reached that far, my wife would chop off my hand.
"Only difference is, those people want to be euthanized."
Exactly. Kevorkian only rigs up the mechanism and they themselves commit suicide.
Terri did not leave a living will, and she is being murdered by dehydration and starvation and that's totally legal?
Thanks...it was one of the hardest things I had to do, but certainly one of the most worthwhile...my parents were really hard to care for...and friends and even some family members would ask me, why didnt I put them into a nursing home?
Now, I have nothing at all against nursing homes...I worked in them for years before my parents needed me, and I worked in them for years after my parents died...and I gave my all to my residents, I have comforted and held many seniors while they were dying...because they families could not or would not come up to the nursing home, when they were called...and both nursing homes I worked in were excellent, with great staffs, and wonderful caring personnel...but nursing homes are short staffed most of the time, and the aides and the nurses just have so many residents to care for, that its really hard to give long, intimate time to the residents...and for my parents, I wanted them to have all the individual time with me that they needed...
Too many folks shove their loved ones into nursing homes when those seniors could be easily taken care of at home..
They way I look at it is this...your parents cared for you, when you needed being cared for...what better tribute can one pay to their parents, than to care for them at home until they die...
I realize that in many cases, home care is not an option...but in way too many cases, I have seen people admitted to nursing homes, purely as a convenience... they could have easily been care for at home...
Again, thanks for your kind words...
I read your posts previous to that and I get your point. I didn't think that sounded like you. My apologies!
No, not like Kervorkian. Kervorkian provides the means for people who want to be euthanized. It's been outlawed because certain segments of society deem it "cruel and unusual". I will agree that it's unusual, but not so sure if it's cruel, as it is a wish for some. Kervorkian isn't forcing people to be euthanized.
Oh yeah... Well, then I'll just have to hold it over your head for a very long time. :P
No problem, my wife 's been gunnysacking me for years now.
"Kervorkian isn't forcing people to be euthanized."
The man is a lawless ghoul, and those that support him are fools at the least, and criminals at the worst.
I don't support him. Apparently you don't support the idea that everyone should be given the opportunity to make up their own mind without some third party inserting themselves to say "that is wrong, outlaw it".
You sir or madam are a hypocrite of the highest order.
Well, I have no idea what gunnysacking is, but it doesn't sound good... Maybe I'll just ping ya next time someone confuses me with an arachnid. lol
No doubt there are some who wouldn't even honor a written directive. I was told a few weeks ago it was ok to ignore such a written directive because the person who made it must be insane to have written it. lol
You afraid of spiders?
It's like Liberalism. Liberals believe they know what's best for everyone else.
Dear lord.
I came up with the theory on my own because my ex once used that "sleeper hold" on me.
Luckily, he didn't "finish" it.
I can tell you how fast it works and that it leaves absolutely -no- evidence that it was done to you at -all-.
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