After 10 years, brain-damaged Buffalo-area fireman makes astounding recovery (Schiavo Parallel?)

CBC ^

[Recovering_Democrat]

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) - Ten years after a firefighter was left brain-damaged and mostly mute during a 1995 roof collapse, he did something that shocked his family and doctors: He perked up.

"I want to talk to my wife," Donald Herbert said out of the blue Saturday. Staff members of the nursing home where he has lived for more than seven years raced to get Linda Herbert on the telephone.

It was the first of many conversations the 44-year-old patient had with his wife, four sons and other family and friends during a 14-hour stretch, said Herbert's uncle, Simon Manka.

"How long have I been away?" Herbert asked.

"We told him almost 10 years," the uncle said. "He thought it was only three months."

[Slyfox]

At the time of AHCA’s purported investigation into the alleged abuse, neglect and exploitation of Terri Schindler Schiavo while she was a resident at the hospice on which Martha Lenderman served on the board with George Felos, she was a consultant with DCF which may be a primary reason why the 89 prior complaints to DCF regarding alleged abuse of Terri Schiavo were ruled unfounded.

More from Empire Journal

[Future Useless Eater]

to Arthur: Hey newbie, </sarcasm>

I wanted to say how much I've admired your posts, even though I don't recall seeing your name much or at all before just recently. I assume you changed your accountname recently from something else, like I did (FL_engineer).

But you've STILL got a little tenure over me since I maintain signup number 43567 and you have account number 180!

I wondered what you meant by listing that profile page the way you did, are you sure you typed it right? http://www.freerepublic.com/~terri_schindler[schiavo]/

You realize dont you, that when you enter the url for a profile page, you should knock out all punctuation and spaces, so your own page would become this http://freerepublic.com/~arthurwildfiremarch/

I looked for
http://freerepublic.com/~terrischindlerschiavo/ and
http://freerepublic.com/~terrischindler/ and
http://freerepublic.com/~terrischiavo/ and
http://freerepublic.com/~theresamarieschindler/ and
http://freerepublic.com/~theresamarieschiavo/ and
http://freerepublic.com/~theresaschindler/ and
http://freerepublic.com/~theresaschiavo/ and
http://freerepublic.com/~theresamarieschindlerschiavo/ and
http://freerepublic.com/~theresaschindlerschiavo/ and found no trace of any of these. Thats different from having them zotted. They don't seem to have ever existed.

Jim, could we have one or more of these accountnames reserved, so ghouls don't take them over or get them 'banned' just for fun? Maybe allow them to point to some Terri-tribute page or 'latest news' about Terri, or just say 'accountname reserved' on the profile page, or some such thing? Oh, and Jim, I don't even want to TALK about YOUR account number!!! (I'm so jealous!)

Hey GeekDejure, I found out that even though we share the same 'FR birthday': 11-12-2000, I'm AHEAD of you by 164!  

Take care all, FUE

[Future Useless Eater]

I've pointed out before that Terri was nearsighted all her life, yet she had NO glasses EVER during her last 15 years! Of the SIX doctors chosen to evaluate her PVS-status in 2002, Dr.H was the ONLY one who spent enough time with her to notice she had trouble seeing, and said she could only focus 18 inches in front of her face.

I learned this week that Dr.H had asked judge Greer for Terri to be SEEN BY AN OPTHAMOLOGIST. But Judge Greer refused!

Dr.H: At one point, I was in her room, and I turned to her, and I said as I was leaving... it was a standard hospital room with a large window, and she was looking off to me, off to her left, and I turned to her and said... you know, she can't see it right now because she's blind, partly blind, I said, If you look out the window, you'd be able to see squirrels, and flowers, and all the rest...

With that she turned her ENTIRE BODY, and looked out the window, and started searching for the birds. And she IS partially blind, but she still did it.

ONE the three doctors who thought she was in PVS, only spent ten MINUTES with her.

The SECOND of the three doctors who thought she was in PVS, only saw her for 30 minutes, and that was on a day (as with Wolfson) where she was supposedly somewhat sedated by medicine for an infection.

The THIRD of that three, was the doctor who was exclaiming on video, to Terri:
"GOOD!! GOOD JOB! GOOD JOB YOUNG LADY! Good Job."

The final 'vote' on Terri's PVS status was (3 to 2).

But WAIT... what about the 6th doctor that Greer had said multiple times he was going to use? Greer had to toss-out the testimony of the 6th doctor (Terri's own physician) ...He was too surprised on the stand at how responsive Terri was in that video, and he might have been construed as being pro-"minimally conscious".


It's not surprising thet Terri's own physician had never before seen her being THAT responsive. The SAME THING happened to the firefighter Donald Herbert. HIS own doctor had never seen his patient being responsive, right up to the day he started talking! And Herbert's doctor spent ENORMOUSLY more time with Mr. Herbert.

[Herbert's Doctor] Ahmed says that before Herbert started talking, he was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state. Ahmed says he'd heard that Herbert may have moved, understood more, and may have been more responsive -- which could indicate that he was actually in a minimally conscious state, not a coma -- but Ahmed says he himself never saw that happen.

[BykrBayb]

Thank you for posting this. Obviously it's too late to help Terri, but the WPPFF continue to brag about the thousands of patients just like Terri who are routinely exterminated. Is that really what we want?

[Future Useless Eater]

>>>the WPPFF continue to brag...

quite right...
And when the terri-haters of the WPPFF (Wannabe Pontius Pilates and Freeper Frauds), quote Jay Wolfson and call him a 'doctor', they usually imply that he is a MEDICAL doctor. Even George Felos does that, and he did it again with Judge Whittemore!

But Wolfson had NO medical degree. He has a 'PhD' of social studies. He was a professor, and a 'bio-ethicist', and his views on medical insurance 'cost containment' were well documented before he was picked for this Schiavo task, so his summary of judge Greer's one-sided "facts" was a foregone conclusion.

Wolfson was called a "medical doctor" to the federal court. Judge Whittemore stated this in his ruling:     "Pinellas County Chief Judge David Demers also appointed attorney Jay Wolfson, M.D. as guardian ad litem"

(that is shown here in Whittemore's appendix if you search for WOLFSON) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1368592/posts

[BykrBayb]

And might I mention, that when they quote Wolfson, they leave out the part where he recommended swallow tests. Obviously, he wouldn't recommend swallow tests for a corpse. He had spoken out publicly against the very law that resulted in him being appointed the GAL. His vocal opposition to Terri's right to life was the very reason he was chosen. Yet he recommended swallow tests, so he was dismissed.

[tutstar]

If you would take the time to read the info contained in the "wacko Schiavo threads" you'd have to apologize because Freepers are dang good researchers. If you want facts this is where you will find them. I guess Mark Fuhrman is a wacko too! It's sad that so many freepers suck up the MSM without question.

[Just mythoughts]

The new age, status quo moderate nobles, dirt worshipers, new god's title has become 'bio-ethicist'. What 'holy' power two thirds of the people of this nation are willing to bestow upon the judiciary.

[Future Useless Eater]

Follow-up on firefighter Donald Herbert from TODAY's Buffalo News

..Herbert continues to make progress, doctors and family members say.

Yet Buffalo lacks what Herbert may need next: a facility for patients who require months, not weeks, of aggressive therapy to continue their recovery.

Brain-injury experts say the area needs a "sub-acute" facility to treat patients making slow progress and who can tolerate only one or two hours of intense daily therapy.

"We had the ability to wake him up," Dr. James Czyrny, clinical director of rehabilitation medicine at Erie County Medical Center, said of Herbert. "But we may not have the capability to continue to treat him (locally)."

A few thousand area residents are estimated to have survived severe head injuries, and they run the gamut from true vegetative states to making steady progress on a road to a complete recovery.

Herbert falls somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.

But his case highlights the area's strengths and weaknesses in dealing with the severely brain-injured:

The county medical center, which treates as many as 125 seriously brain- injured patients each year, has a reputation for doing a fantastic job keeping people alive. They include James B. Roberts of Grand Island, who was in a coma for six weeks following a severe brain injury in January.

"ECMC was our guardian angel," said Nancy Roberts of Grand Island, the young man's mother. "Without them, we would be remembering Jim. We wouldn't be talking with him."

The area's lack of a long-term facility for severely brain-injured patients forces many younger people into nursing homes.

"Nursing homes aren't set up for that," said Diana K. Landwehr, director of Headway for Brain Injured, a local advocacy agency. "A nursing home can't provide the stimulation they need."

Also lacking is a facility for patients, perhaps including Herbert, who need months - not just weeks - of therapy to improve enough to go home.

Because of Herbert's continued lucidity in the last two weeks, Czyrny said he expects a trend of long-term improvement, marked by plenty of ups and downs.

Since awakening from an almost-vegetative state two weeks ago, Herbert has had other exceptional days, including last Friday.

"When he is in these lucid periods, he is talking in multiple-word sentences that are very appropriate," Czyrny said. [more]

---

My advice to BUFFALO, To understand how to BEST handle brain-damaged patients, study in detail how Michael cared for Terri AFTER he got her rehabilitation money, AND DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE.

[Dante3]

From this it appears that Judge Greer was framing Terri!

[bjs1779]

I learned this week that Dr.H had asked judge Greer for Terri to be SEEN BY AN OPTHAMOLOGIST. But Judge Greer refused.

I love Dr. Hammesfahr. He tried so hard to save her.

[bjs1779]

But WAIT... what about the 6th doctor that Greer had said multiple times he was going to use? Greer had to toss-out the testimony of the 6th doctor (Terri's own physician) ...He was too surprised on the stand at how responsive Terri was in that video, and he might have been construed as being pro-"minimally conscious".

Of course, that would be Dr. Gambone. He resigned as Terri's doctor because he stated that "she as an obvious will to live".

[GeekDejure]

Hey GeekDejure, I found out that even though we share the same
'FR birthday': 11-12-2000, I'm AHEAD of you by 164!
=======

Whew! Thanks for exposing the fact that you were born on FR a
few hours before me... which makes me the snot-nosed younger
brother.

What a blessed relief. Now I can legally refrain from further
pretending to be the adult !!! ;-))

[Pepper777]

** I learned this week that Dr.H had asked judge Greer for Terri to be SEEN BY AN OPTHAMOLOGIST. But Judge Greer refused!**

FUE, you've posted so many informative posts on this thread. Dr H's words about Terri moving her entire body to try and look out the window, to try and see the little birds and squirrels, was so sad. For Greer to refuse Terri eye care is another outrage. Instead he used her money to line the pockets of Felos.

Anyone who says Terri wasn't there - has an agenda, period, or they refuse to read the facts. Ignorance of the truth, doesn't excuse people for saying the untrue things they say here. The facts of Terri's case are obvious. She was recovering inspite of the efforts of her stinking, lowlife husband to prevent her from doing so.

When people like Tom Delay realized the truth of what was going on in Florida, they tried to stop it. The MSM would have the public to believe that Delay wants to prevent some from their so called *right to die*. What a ridiculous lie. Delay tried to stop the FORCED DEATH of an innocent, precious disabled person. I despise the MSM for their continued campaign of LIES concerning Terri Schindler.

I hope Mark Furhman was able to spend some time with Dr. H, while he was in Florida. It's too bad that Hannity, Delay and others didn't realize what was going on back in October of 2003. Judges over-ruled the Florida legislature when they tried to save Terri back then. Terri should have been set free from Michael Schiavo, but instead the judges in Florida supported Greer. Sickening and very scary, imho.

[Pepper777]

" It's sad that so many freepers suck up the MSM without question."

It's sad and very strange. Especially since I would think those same freepers don't usually trust the MSM for their source of information concerning other issues. Strange.

[TAdams8591]

He did. Which explains the Schiavo brothers hatred of Hammesfahr.

[Earthdweller]

"From this it appears that Judge Greer was framing Terri!"

Yep... framing her, boxing her in and sending her on a trip to the incinerator but hey....

give the man some credit. At least he didn't advocate throwing her carcass in a trash barrel like I've heard they do with dogs and cats that get exterminated.

God Bless You Terri

[AnimalLover]

God has not forgotten about Terri.

And.....neither have we!

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

Meanwhile, Dr. H is tarred and feathered because he had the audacity to think a U.S. Congressman's recommendation for a Nobel Prize actually meant something.

Up is down. Black is white.

[Future Useless Eater]

birds of a feather?