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.
It didn't matter to me either. Terri was a living human being and that was all that mattered to me. I wouldn't starve and dehydrate an animal much less a human being.
I see.
Michael and Greer didn't really want to know how Terri was doing.
Since I'm trying to fill out these living will papers today, perhaps other Freepers could advise me. How many of you have directed that you want to live as long as possible, with all possible treatments, in the event that you become as disabled as Terri Schiavo? What guides your thinking on this?
One of Terri's closest friend stated, that she and Terri were looking for an apartment, even discussed furniture, because Terri was planning to leave MS, because he was controlling and abusive.
THEN she suddenly collapsed.
Maybe she told MS that she was going to leave him, and he went into a rage and tried to kill her, but botched it, but then he turned it into a gold mine, and killed her later.
A nurse also testified that when MS visited Terri, he closed the door, and Terri was always in worse shape, after he left, she found insulin bottles in her waste basket, when they measured her glucose, it was way below normal -- and it appeared that MS gave Terri insulin shots, trying to induce coma and death. By this time MS was a nurse, so he had access to stuff like that and knew the consequences.
What we see here is most likely a murder, that MS not only got away with, but was approved by a judge. Scott Peterson wishes he had thought of this.
There is no reason to do a test if you already know the result. Unless the test was to proove that she was not in pvs then why do it? In court, the Schindlers even admitted under oath that they knew Terri was in pvs. So what is the test for those of us like you who if the result is different than what you want will just ignore it and point to as another part of the conspiracy.
No, I believe if you go back and check you will see that person was minimally conscious. No one who was in true pvs ever came back.
How many people did Cranford mis-diagnose as being PVS, and how many people did Cranford correctly diagnose as being PVS?
Even if he wasn't trying to kill her, his actions may have been the cause of her injuries. He was much bigger than Terri.
I don't discount the possibility of that for a minute but my mind is running wild now. Does anybody have evidence that Terri had life insurance before the original "collapse" happened in 1990? I know she worked for Prudential so its likely she had a policy with them as an employee. Could the original "collapse" have been an attempt to murder her for money that failed?
While this again shows how a flawed law can be abused - it really points out why the husband and Felos INSISTED that Terri was PVS - because otherwise they had no law to protect them from murdering her.
And .. I do not fault Jeb for signing it, even though he wrongly assumed that dedicated professional medical personnel would not use the PVS designation as a method to kill innocent people.
Perhaps it's time for Christians everywhere to admit that SOME MEDICAL PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE A REGARD FOR LIFE. We must stop being so naive.
This would be the only scenario I could see.
Working for an insurance co. it is likely she did buy a policy, maybe 2. One on her and one on MS. Even if MS and Jodi, somehow forged a policy after her collapse, with all the attention this case has garnered, they would never try and cash it. There would be too many red flags.
So if there is any insurance money to be had, it would have to be prior to he collapse.
As I said to another poster - this law points up why Felos was so adamant about Terri being PVS - otherwise they had no LEGAL right to murder her.
WOW!!
That case is similar.
Unbelievable the different outcome...it all depends on the judge.
Now that is scarier than anything when it comes to someones life.
Have you read about the "Hugh Finn" or "Marjorie Nighbert" cases? They're enlightening too.
Please ping me with any new Terri information.
But
People who have been misdiagnosed as PVS have come back.
Did you even read the article posted at the beginning of this thread?
I hope I do this right.
Please read this before signing anything
http://www.catholictradition.org/targeted.htm
They mispelled the name of the Jerger and Centonze InsurNace [sic] Agency that Michael and the Jergers are directors of.
I wonder if Terri's policy isn't hidden under some other "mispelling."
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