Posted on 04/01/2005 11:52:28 PM PST by FairOpinion
The amount of medical misinformation put out about Terri Schiavo has been truly stunning. The testimony of Terri’s physicians who believe that some recovery is possible has been largely dismissed. Judge Greer’s court and the media in turn, have focused only on the pessimistic interpretations of the raw data of her CT scan.
A physician at a credible physicians’ website has analyzed Terri’s CAT scan and concludes that it has been grossly misrepresented. There is some cerebral atrophy, but it is a completely inaccurate to characterize it as “bag of water.” Furthermore, the author states that
“the most alarming thing about this image, however, is that there certainly is cortex left. Granted, it is severely thinned, especially for Terri's age, but I would be nonplussed if you told me that this was a 75 year old female who was somewhat senile but fully functional, and I defy a radiologist anywhere to contest that.”
In one of the definitive court battles in 2002, five physicians examined Terri to determine if therapy would be of further benefit. Two chosen by Terri’s parents believed that she was not in a “persistent vegetative state” and that some recovery was possible. Two chosen by Michael Schiavo held that she had no chance of recovery, as did the “neutral” physician appointed by the court. This 3-2 decision was key in the 2003 attempt to pull her feeding tube.
One of Michael Schiavo’s medical experts was the right-to-die advocate Dr. Ronald Cranford, who has been an expert in a number other key court cases on our nation’s slippery slope to euthanasia, including those of Nancy Cruzan and Robert Wedlund. But Dr. Cranford has made serious errors in other cases when prognosticating about the prospects of neurological recovery. Frederica Mathewes-Green states that Sgt. David Mack, who was shot in the line of duty as a policeman, was diagnosed by Cranford as
"definitely...in a persistent vegetative state...never [to] regain cognitive, sapient functioning...never [to] be aware of his condition."
Twenty months after the shooting Mack woke up, and eventually regained nearly all his mental ability. When asked by a reporter how he felt, he spelled out on his letterboard, "Speechless!"
In fact, the entire field of diagnosing “persistent vegetative state” or “PVS” is fraught with inaccuracy. Recent studies have shown the rate of misdiagnosis to be as high as 37% or even 43%. PVS is a clinical diagnosis, meaning that it depends on the subjective judgment of the examining physician. Experts in the field cannot even agree on the usefulness of diagnostic imaging.
Dr. Ronald Cranford himself was upset about the articles showing the inaccuracy of diagnosis and prognostication about PVS. Childs and Mercer, authors of one of the studies citing the difficulties of diagnosing PVS, took Cranford to task for “zealously” promoting the concept of the "permanent vegetative state" despite the evidence of its problematic nature, and the regularity with which some patients recover from it .
The nomenclature of “persistent vegetative state” was coined in 1972 by Jennett and Plum in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet. The original article, “Persistent Vegetative State: A syndrome in search of a name” seems to have succeeded in its task as reclassifying severely cognitively disabled humans as non-persons - something akin to vegetables in the minds of many. Public perception of this highly-charged term predisposes many to dismiss the lives of human beings as no more significant than plant life. It is a brilliant, if chilling, masterstroke of propaganda, one which has been swallowed hook, line, and sinker.
This reclassification of non-terminally ill people has allowed for their dehydration and starvation deaths in Britain with a doctor’s recommendation, and in many states in the USA with the family’s wishes (or a patient’s own advance directives). The medical literature is rife with arrogant pronouncements in editorials of learned journals, such as life itself not being of “benefit” to someone in the PVS state. The echoes of current bioethics doublespeak resound in these journals.
In some respects the “persistent vegetative state” is more a political than a medical diagnosis, as it allows its unfortunate victims to lose their right to life and be medically killed through withholding food and water. It is unfortunate that some of the experts on the side of the Culture of Death seem to have had the upper hand in Terri’s fight, and have been portrayed by the media as reasonable and responsible members of the medical profession, rather than the zealots which, in fact, some of their own medical colleagues have branded them.
You're thinking of Cyril Wecht.
I have seen patients time after time outperforming the RADIOLOGISTS AND PHYSICIANS INTERPRETATION of their CAT scans.
This article seems to mirror the practice of most of the physicians I have worked with, in stating that PVS is subjective. In fact many physicians will not even use it as a diagnosis.
I knew an elderly patient, who walked (or shuffled) unaided especially to meals in a dining room without a reminder, talked in mumbled but purposeful fashion, was generally kind and cooperative. After he died an autospy revealed a brain so traumatized and distorted that his physician remarked that even his ability to be in a conscious state was a miracle. Yet he functioned with just moderate assistance for many years.
If she was bulimic her parents wouldn't have know till it was to late..Unless she went for treatment.
Look, if you want someone to kill you if you are ever disabled to the point where you cannot talk, put it in a living will and have it witnessed, signed, and notarized.
One of the appalling aspects of the Terri Schindler case was that there was NOT any such legal document, and the law (in the form of Judge Greer) presumed that the default action in such a situation should be to kill. This is a grotesque departure on what the law has been since the founding of our country.
Try googling Guardian Ad Litem Wolfson or Schiavo Wolfson
But regardless, I'm with Cherry, who said very succinctly in a previous post that it shouldn't matter if she is PVS or not.
So you believe regardless of someone's state and wishes that they can be kept as a "Chia Pet" for the benefit of others. Kind of sounds like slavery to me.
The fact that Felos himself personally lobbied aggressively for those changes around the same time he took on the Schiavo case should be a red flag for everyone.
So if the Schindlers had lobbied against this law that would have disqualified them from suing under it?
DO X-RAYS OR OTHER TESTS HELP IN DIAGNOSIS CEREBRAL PALSY?
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT) scans are often ordered when the physician suspects that the child has cerebral palsy.[snip]Children with normal scans may have severe cerebral palsy, and children with clearly abnormal scans occasionally appear totally normal or have only mild physical evidence of cerebral palsy.
WHAT MEDICAL PROBLEMS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH CEREBRAL PALSY?
Children with cerebral palsy have many problems, not all of them related to the brain injury. Most of these complications are nevertheless neurological. They include epilepsy, mental retardation, learning disabilities, and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder.
WHAT IS THE PROGNOSIS FOR THE CHILD WITH CEREBRAL PALSY?
It is even more difficult to make early predictions of speaking ability or mental ability than it is to predict motor function.
Let me explain this to you once and for all. The fact that Judge Greer didnt agree with your interpretation of Terr's state doesnt mean that he didnt consider other views. If there are two views and they are counter one another, you have to decide which evidence is more credible. The three docs that said PVS were more credible than the ones that said not so. Its quite conceivalbe that another judge hearing the same evidence would have made the same decision. When a "world reknown nobel nominated" quack is one of your experts, it doesnt do much to support the credibility of your case.
What were her wishes Dave? Are you saying we're supposed to take the word of a husband who changed his mind repeatedly as to what those wishes were?
And you haven't anwered my other question... are you now implying that mentally retarded people living in a worse vegetative state than Terri was are being kept alive as a "Chia Pet" for the benefit of others?
Yes and your url said nothing about scientology, just that his family moved to Florida, duh. By the way I agree with you that Scientology is a cult and when it breaks the law should be squashed.
Frankly Im surprised that your side isnt making more of his connection to Jim Morrison, after all one of his classics was "This is the end".
I reject the premise of your question. Any mentally retarded person would far exceed the capabilities of Terri Schiavo. Mentally retarded people are aware of their existence, they know what they want and dont want, and they likely know who their caregivers are. You cant honestly say that about Terri. You feel that she may be but your are not absolutely positive so you drape it in making a presumption for life.
You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about with that statement. There are varying degrees of mental retardation, some have low IQs with limited independent living skills while others are perpetually bedridden and completely unaware of their surroundings.
I've seen those videos of Terri and her brain was functioning, if only in a limited way.
Before you make such comments go to an institution for mentally handicapped people and get an education.
Speaking of ignorance...
Wolfson badly misused elementary logic when he wrote in his report (page 33)
Descartes addressed this in his proposition that it is our awareness, our consciousness that defines our being: "Cogito, ergo sum." This logic would imply that unless we are aware and conscious, we cease to be.
"I think, therefore, I am" in no way implies "I don't think, therefore, I am not."
The second statement is the inverse of the first, and inverse stements cannot be proven true from the truth of the original statement.
Statement: If p, then qInverse: If not p, then not q
Question. If Wolfson is not poor at logic, then whom is he attempting to deceive?
Ah, yes, Cranford. Who has publicly said PVS patients and Alzheimer's patients have no constitutional rights.
A few brain function tests, when Terri was still alive, might have supported your point somewhat.
But, alas, the tests were never run.
Sorry, but anyone who says that people who are PVS or have Alzheimers should not have consitutional rights are not credible one bit IMO!
OK, whats wrong with the other two other than you disagree with them? That still leaves it 2:1 in favor of pvs. Face it, you probably wouldnt care whether they all said she was in pvs. You dont think anyone has a right to die, that is perhaps unless they are a judge you disagree with.
Everyone has a right to die, that's my opinion anyway. In this case you're completely ignoring the fact we don't know what her wishes unless you want to take the word of a husband who repeatedly changed his mind.
They might have if the Schindlers had been willing to stipulate that they would drop their case and allow Terri to die if the tests proved Terri was in persistent vegatative state. Since they wouldnt, why bother? They wouldnt served any purpose? And what if there was still question following testing?
If Terri really had a flat EEG something was wrong with the EEG or the way it was done. My grandmother had two flat EEG's (the hospital would not rely on just one) after suffering a heart attack and being without oxygen for almost a half hour. Afterwards she never regained conciousness, opened her eyes only once but did not focus, had no arm or leg movement outside of spasms, relied totally on a respirator to breathe and other machines to maintain body functions. Terri appeared to be nothing like this.
A greedy husband, a lawyer obsessed with death and either a corrupt or incompetent judge helped execute an innocent, disabled women.
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