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Terri Schiavo Case; Expert Testimony?
CNN LIVE TODAY transcipt ^ | March 22, 2005 | CNN LIVE TODAY

Posted on 03/22/2005 6:15:47 PM PST by FR_addict

First segments.... (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a medical case as high profile as Terri Schiavo, you would think the medical experts would have all the answers. But just by listening to them and reviewing statements they gave to the court, it's easy to see why a final answer is so complicated.

DR. WILLIAM HAMMESFAHR, NEUROLOGIST: I spent about 10 hours across about three months and the woman is very aware of her surroundings. She's very aware. She's alert. She's not in a coma. She's not in PVS. ...

DR. RONALD CRANFORD, NEUROLOGIST: A vegetative state is a scary diagnosis. Unless you know what you're looking for, it looks like the patient is interacting. But Terri is not interacting.

GUPTA: Both of them are neurologists and their conclusions are based on diagnostic tests that are supposed to be objective. Yet, they tell different tales.

HAMMESFAHR: Her CAT scan has maybe 75 percent of the brain tissue still left. CRANFORD: I've seen her. There's no doubt in my mind, whatsoever, she's in a permanent vegetative state. Her CAT scan shows extremely severe atrophy to the brain. And her EEG is flat. It doesn't show any electrical activity at all.

GUPTA: And, most importantly, their opinions about a possible recovery?

HAMMESFAHR: With proper therapy, she will have a tremendous improvement. I think, personally, that she'll be able to walk, eventually, and she will be able to use at least one of her arms.

CRANFORD: There's no way. That's totally bogus. ...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(Excerpt) Read more at transcripts.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: clockticking; cranford; hireprivateeyenow; investigatemichael; investigatemikenow; isthisacoverup; questionmotives; schiavo; schindler; terri; terrischiavo; witchhunt
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To: FR_addict

Well, I'm not lying. I typed the post in a hurry, and mudged his unusual name. I didn't even know my husband knew him until last week when I told him it was Bilirakis.

I am very well aware of the letter and the circumstances. If you read my page, you should be able to tell that I have done an exhaustive amount of research on the subject.

Bilirakis told him to stop way back before the 2002 trial.

If you feel comfortable standing by what you believe is a man with integrity and professionalism, whose claim to be a Nobel Nominee is less than fraudulent, have at it. I've already quit trying to help people here unless I'm pinged. The damage has been done, and it isn't worth my hassle.


81 posted on 04/01/2005 7:27:53 PM PST by Trinity_Tx (Since Oct 9, 2000) (**From Buckhead to this in 6 months. That's one helluva FReefall.**)
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To: jwalsh07

Can we agree that one mistake made by the Schindlers' legal team, is that they did have have an effective expert? No court was going to give DR. WILLIAM HAMMESFAHR (sp) much credance given his bio. That is just the way it is. They should have called you John. :)


82 posted on 04/01/2005 7:32:25 PM PST by Torie
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To: Torie
He's a jerk. He may be a good neurologist but he's a jerk. His Noble Prize nomination thing makes him a jerk. WHat surprises me the most upon reflection is the failure of the pro life movement to coaleasce around this case with the best we have to offer and we have some pretty darn good folks, both medically and legally speaking.

But it surprises me every year at the March for Life that more Evangelicals don't accompany us Catholics while we petition our government. I have personally written to Dobson et al and the head Catholics in Chrage inquiring why. No answer has yet to come to my door.

I suspect the reason why is petty differences in biblical interpretation and dogma. I hope I am wrong.

83 posted on 04/01/2005 7:37:31 PM PST by jwalsh07 (God bless Pope John Paul II!)
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To: jwalsh07

The best and the brightest of the legal guild tend to be well, not very interested in this kind of thing. Most would when faced with this situation, think that they just want to get it over with, and exit, quietly, and without publicity. They would find hanging around beneath their dignity. I wasn't interested either, except to tut, tut in my ignorance (not that I am in that category by any means), until this forum caused me to probe and ponder. So it would take some effort to get the brain power in train. The reserves for this aspect of the pro life movement are thin, and there is not the insider Ivy League law school Federalist Society type network around to rapidly activate. That is my guess. I could be wrong.


84 posted on 04/01/2005 7:46:56 PM PST by Torie
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To: Torie

No, you are right but the trend may change due to the work of some very wealthy Christians like Tom Monaghan.


85 posted on 04/01/2005 7:52:42 PM PST by jwalsh07 (God bless Pope John Paul II!)
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To: FR_addict
He "did nominate" Hammesfahr only if you think I could write a letter nominating you for a Nobel Prize which would constitute a real nomination.

The Nobel Committee accepts nominations from an esteemed group of leaders in each field awarded - in the case of a Nobel Prize for Physiology, scientists and physicians. Not lawyers and Congressmen. Bilirakis' letter means only that Bilirakis - who has nothing to do with Nobel - thinks Hammesfahr is worthy of a Nobel. It does not mean that the Nobel committee, any of the authorized nominators, or anyone even tangentially associated with the Nobel Prize thinks he is even worthy of a nomination.

Perhaps the National Enquirer backs him for the award, as well.

86 posted on 04/02/2005 6:00:07 AM PST by lugsoul (Wild Turkey)
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To: Trinity_Tx; Peach; lugsoul

"He "did nominate" Hammesfahr only if you think I could write a letter nominating you for a Nobel Prize which would constitute a real nomination. "

As far as I know, you are not a member of the House of Representatives. The fact is Dr. Hammesfahr was nominated by a member of the US House of Representatives.

It would be nice if you went after Doctor Death with the same ferocity as you attack Dr. Hammesfahr. There's a lot of dirt on Dr. Cranford. You don't seem to mind that Felos has a Doctor that never sides with life.

"But the star medical witness for Michael Schiavo, Dr. Ronald Cranford of the University of Minnesota, has repeatedly dismissed calls for MRI testing, and his opinion has prevailed.

Dr. Cranford was the principal medical witness brought in by Schiavo and Felos to support their position that Terri was PVS.

But before that, one needs to know a little about Cranford’s background and perspective: Dr. Ronald Cranford is one of the most outspoken advocates of the “right to die” movement and of physician-assisted suicide in the U.S. today.

In published articles, including a 1997 op-ed in the Minneapolis–St. Paul Star Tribune, he has advocated the starvation of Alzheimer’s patients.

In cases where other doctors don’t see it, Dr. Cranford seems to have a knack for finding PVS. Cranford also diagnosed Robert Wendland as PVS. He did so in spite of the fact that Wendland could pick up specifically colored pegs or blocks and hand them to a therapy assistant on request. He did so in spite of the fact that Wendland could operate and maneuver an ordinary wheelchair with his left hand and foot, and an electric wheelchair with a joystick, of the kind that many disabled persons (most famously Dr. Stephen Hawking) use. Dr. Cranford dismissed these abilities as meaningless. Fortunately for Wendland, the California supreme court was not persuaded by Cranford’s assessment."



87 posted on 04/02/2005 6:05:16 AM PST by FR_addict
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To: FR_addict; Peach; Trinity_Tx
As far as I know, you are not a member of the House of Representatives. The fact is Dr. Hammesfahr was nominated by a member of the US House of Representatives.

That would mean something, if a member of the US House of Representatives was entitled to nominate someone for a Nobel Prize in Physiology by virtue of that status. Since they are not, it may as well be me writing the letter.

88 posted on 04/02/2005 6:31:24 AM PST by lugsoul (Wild Turkey)
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To: Phocion

Take a good look at that scan. Her entire brain is missing. That white stuff you see on the outer edges is connective tissue,sort of like cartlage, the material that forms the various chambers where brain material is supposed to be.You can plainly see that these various chambers are empty.
You can see at the very front there looks to be some material there, as small amount on the right and left shperes. It too is markedly different from healthy looking tissue, is front lobe material, and isn't connected to anything. it's probably just scar tissue now. or dead material that is slowly dissolving.
Important is the the entire cerebral cortex is missing, because even if there were some small part of the brain intact and working, it has no pathway, and no processing region in which to connect to.
She exists only on brainstem activity, that is all. She is not aware. That's what the doctors mean when they say she is not concious.

As far as flat eeg goes, he's correct as well. People are confuzing ekg's for eegs. Also, when this other doc made his statement, he had not seen Terri's scans. To make a statement saying she has 75% of her brain left is a joke. unlike most people, I do know how to read xrays and scans.
I have a certificate in radiology and certificates for operation of battlefield equipment.


89 posted on 04/02/2005 6:32:19 AM PST by Nathan Zachary
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To: Nathan Zachary

Facts, schmacts.


90 posted on 04/02/2005 6:34:18 AM PST by lugsoul (Wild Turkey)
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To: FR_addict

I just hope the Schindler's SUE THE PANTS OFF OF EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED IN THEIR DAUGHTER'S MURDER!!!!!!!!!!!!


91 posted on 04/02/2005 6:36:43 AM PST by Saundra Duffy ("Where there's life, there's hope." Theresa Marie SCHINDLER)
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To: Saundra Duffy

It's a shame, but that may be the only way to get the real story out.

I would much prefer a criminal case, but it probably won't happen. At least a civil trial will get the evidence that Judge Greer ignored out in the open.


92 posted on 04/02/2005 7:01:42 AM PST by FR_addict
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To: Nathan Zachary

They cut brains in half and take out lobes and people go on to live healthy and happy lives. T There was an article following people with extensive damage to their brain, just like Terri. One was in college and now has an IQ of 126.

There's a lot that doctors don't know about the brain.


93 posted on 04/02/2005 7:04:48 AM PST by FR_addict
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To: FR_addict
Cranford's use of the term Permanent Vegetative State is interesting.

When Fred Plum coined the term and published it, in 1972, the term was "Persistent Vegetative State, meaningthat there were patients who, in recovery from coma, "stalled" before full recovery for various, though long, periods of time.

The morphing of the term to "Permanent" has not been published or accepted to my knowledge.

94 posted on 04/02/2005 7:05:21 AM PST by Jim Noble (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God)
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To: FR_addict

There is no Terri case..... it's been decided.


95 posted on 04/02/2005 7:06:50 AM PST by bert (Peace is only halftime !)
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To: FR_addict; Torie; lugsoul
I have made multiple complaints about Cranford throughout this thing. If he had been even close to the only one with that diagnosis, it would have been a complete outrage. But the judges were faced with all her other doctors, 2 at that trial, agreeing with him.

On the Schindler side, was a radiologist, who couldn't even distinguish between PVS and Coma, and the National Enquirer Advertising, Quackwatch listed, Nobel Lying Hammesfahr - who equivocated about those things as well as his observations of Terri at trial.

To expect the judges to have found the last 2 more credible than all the others is irrational.


Re Hammesfahr's nomination:
(notice it is a nomination for a "Nobel Peace Prize in Medicine" and that there is no such thing.)


The reason being a Nobel Prize nominee is such an honor is *because* it is so very rare, due to the very tough guidelines about who nominates and how many.
It is the highest standard of Peer Review. Politicians are not peers in the sciences, so they can only nominate for Peace - that is their area.

Hammesfahr fraudulently tries to pass himself off as someone who deserves that rare level of honor. His only true claim to "peer review" is a complete joke, as he has it listed on his page (link on my page) - something like 3-4 local Floridians he shares patient referrals with, one or 2 of them not even doctors.
He outright lies about her heart condition and her neck "injury" all the time. Quotes showing how on my page.
96 posted on 04/02/2005 12:15:48 PM PST by Trinity_Tx (Since Oct 9, 2000) (**From Buckhead to this in 6 months. That's one helluva FReefall.**)
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To: Jim Noble
The American Academy of Neurology recently adopted the position that the VS should be termed "persistent" at 1 month, and considered "permanent" after 3 months following nontraumatic causes of unconsciousness and after 12 months following traumatic injury [27]. However, rare exceptions to this have been cited. (longest documented was 3 years - Cranford also misdiagnosed 1 pt in '79 - he came out of it after 18 months, I think. His CT scan was not consistent with the PVS dx.)

Multi-Society Task Force on PVS: : Medical aspects of the persistent vegetative state: statement of a multi-society task force. N Engl J Med. 1994;330:1467-91
97 posted on 04/02/2005 12:27:44 PM PST by Trinity_Tx (Since Oct 9, 2000) (**From Buckhead to this in 6 months. That's one helluva FReefall.**)
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To: Trinity_Tx

The guy who made the difference was the guy Greer appointed presumably, Wolfson, or whatever his name was.


98 posted on 04/02/2005 1:05:07 PM PST by Torie
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To: jwalsh07

FYI to above post.


99 posted on 04/02/2005 1:06:58 PM PST by Torie
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To: Torie

Bambakadis.

Wolfson was the guardian ad litem appointed to report to Bush. If only they had followed his advice. : /


Here's his report in html. Also has the trial transcripts and other stuff: http://home.comcast.net/~trinity_tx/index.htm


(Those are all just my own plain html pages - no ads or scripts anywhere.)


100 posted on 04/02/2005 1:12:36 PM PST by Trinity_Tx (Since Oct 9, 2000) (**From Buckhead to this in 6 months. That's one helluva FReefall.**)
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