Posted on 06/19/2005 6:04:50 PM PDT by wagglebee
Dr. William Hammesfahr, nominated for a Nobel Prize for his work in Medicine, has been recognized by agents for Medicare, the federal government, and others for new approaches to helping the brain injured.
Dr. Hammesfahr has been identified in helping patients with chronic brain injuries from many causes actually leave long term disability, and return to work.
Dr. Hammesfahr was identified the first physician to restore deficits caused by stroke.
Dr. Hammesfahr has released the following statement in response to the autopsy report on Terri Schindler Schiavo:
We have seen a lot on the autopsy of Terri Schindler Schiavo in recent days, that I feel needs to be addressed. To ignore these comments will allow future 'Terri Schiavo's' to die needlessly after the wishes of clinicians and family are ignored.
Considering that there were so many physicians and therapists who were willing to step forward to treat Terri Schiavo, from university based practitioners to those in private practice, it clearly shows that the mainstream medical community across the board, those involved in treating patients, knew that they could help Terri.
The record must be set straight. As we noted in the press, there was no heart attack, or evident reason for this to have happened (and certainly not of Terri's making).
Unlike the constant drumbeat from the husband, his attorneys, and his doctors, the brain tissue was not dissolved, with a head of just spinal fluid. In fact, large areas were "relatively preserved."
The purpose of the therapies offered by so many, from major universities, brain injury centers, and from private practice physicians, is to improve and restore quality of life, and function, which the mainstream medical community clearly tried to get to her.
I have had a chance to look at Dr. Nelson's analysis of the brain tissue, and essentially, as a clinician, these are my thoughts.
The autopsy results confirmed my opinion and Dr. Maxfield's opinions, that the frontal areas of the brains, the areas that deal with awareness and cognition were relatively intact. To use Dr. Nelson's words, "relatively preserved." In fact, the relay areas from the frontal and front temporal regions of the brain, to the spinal cord and the brain stem, by way of the basal ganglia, were preserved, thus the evident responses which she was able to express to her family and to the clinicians seeing her or viewing her videotape. The Spect scan confirmed these areas were functional and not scar tissue, and that was apparently also confirmed on Dr. Nelson's review of the slides. Dr. Maxfield's estimates of retained brain weight were apparently accurate, although there may have been some loss of brain weight due to the last two weeks of dehydration.
Dr. Maxfield and myself both emphasized that she was a woman trapped in her body, similar to a child with cerebral palsy, and that was born out by the autopsy, showing greater injury in the motor and visual centers of the brain. Obviously, the pathologists comments that she could not see were not borne out by reality, and thus his assessment must represent sampling error. The videotapes clearly showed her seeing, and even Dr. Cranfoed, for the husband, commented to her that, when she could see the balloon, she could follow it with her eyes as per his request.
That she could not swallow was obviously not borne out by the reality that she was swallowing her saliva, about 1.5 liters per day of liquid, and the clinical swallowing tests done by Dr. Young and Dr. Carpenter. Thus, there appears to be some limitations to the clinical accuracy of an autopsy in evaluating function.
With respect to the issue of trauma, that certainly does not appear to be answered adequately. Some of the types of trauma that are suspected were not adequately evaluated in this assessment. Interestingly, both myself and at least one neurologist for the husband testified to the presence of neck injuries. The issue of a forensic evaluation for trauma, is highly specialized. Hence the wish of the family to have observers which was refused by the examiner.
Ultimately, based on the clinical evidence and the autopsy results, an aware woman was killed.
s/Dr. W. Hammesfahr
[Dr. Hammesfahr was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1999. The Nomination was for work started in 1994. In 2000, this work resulted in approval for the first patent in history granted for the treatment of neurological diseases including coma, stroke, brain injury, cerebral palsy, hypoxic injuries and other neurovascular disorders with medications that restore blood flow to the brain. It was extended to treat successfully disabilities including ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, Tourette's and Autism as well as behaviorally and emotionally disturbed children, seizures and severe migraines.]
Obviously my caveat that I would comment if I saw such was meant to convey that I'm not likely to see many of your postings. No surprise--the exact opposite of how you interpreted it.
You might learn something.
No. I like truth and facts.
LOL! You have a good memory.
Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.
I accept your surrender.
Well - we all know there is only a 50% chance Michael was right about Terri's wishes. He was telling the truth or he was lying. That is a 50% chance. We should err on the side of life - especially with a husband so desperately wanting to kill a woman that he spends 10 years fighting lawsuits to do it. A little obsessive I would say.
Now - a normal man who had set up housekeeping with another woman and had two children with her, would not remain obsessively committed to carrying out the wishes of a prior wife. Remember it was hearsay evidence only remembered AFTER receiving the monetary settlement 7 years after her having severe brain damage all by herself which woke her in the middle of the night so that she got out of bed and fell down in the hall. Where she lay gurgling even after discovered by the adoring husband. We know this because her brother found her on the floor in that state while Michael set on the couch.
And we have the time line discrepancy noted in the autopsy findings.
How do we know this? Just look at any divorced man and see how committed he is to the wishes of an exwife. Do you see many that are filing lawsuits continually in order to fulfil wishes of an ex-wife? Does not pass the smell test. The new wife would be highly upset by his actions - unless it could mean monetary benefit to the new family.
I don't care if you think it is too far. We should not even have to continually try and explain to your group why we are upset about this. There is something weird going on as there is no problem with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Tom DeLay, Pres. Bush, Gov. Bush, Sen. Frist, Brit Hume, Ann Coulter, and many other well-known conservatives thoroughly understanding why this is wrong and why it is a danger to our country.
Really weird Peach that everyone of the ones you believe are on the side of Michael. Everyone of the ones you do not believe are on the side of Terri.
Wonder why that is?
We have no idea how long she has been blind. And, possibly it occurred during the dehydration causing brain damage.
...Hang on to her, there ain't to many of them around. : )...
You got that right. God blessed me the day she came into my life, and every day thereafter with her companionship and guidance.
See, you've learned something wonderful already :-)
Peace. Me too.
Truth matters to some people. Not to you, I see. Pity.
About Dr. H? Dream on.
Go back and read your posts - you brought it up.
And, of course, it is immaterial to me whether you read my posts or not.
Alright, the courts are the standard. The court deemed Hammesfahr's testimony unconvincing regarding Terri and ruled Michael Schiavo the most reliable in determining Terri's wishes. Case closed.
Cute. Who wrote the summary?
I read your "self determination" as you stating your right for self suicide - since you had just questioned btw about committing suicide.
(Tried to keep this to one sentence so you would be able to read it in one sentence.)
Watch out in Florida. They are a little to willing to speed up the "processing" of the patients. My prior tagline was Florida Motto: Send us your weak, infirm, elderly - we will give them "rest".
Just how do you have access to how many swallow tests she had?
Do you have access to the medical records? How?
You are certainly within your rights to not belive Schiavo. After watching the edited videos, I decided that I don't believe the parents.
You believe whom you believe, I believe whom I believe. I don't see either one of us changing the others' minds on this. For each point you make about Michael, I could make another about him, about the parents or the people the parents surrounded themselves with. Everytime you mention Michael's new woman, I could mention Terri's parents encouraging him to find a new love. You give the brother's testimony more credit than I, especially after the autopsy evidence. You say that Michael changed his story after the money, I point out that the parents did too.
This has been pretty civil so far, and I'd hate to see it degenerate as so many of these conversations have. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
It was from an unsourced document posted by mercyme as indicated. However, in the original thread or in a following thread, it was later sourced per another poster although I did not see that part of the thread. He advised that all had been sourced through the information in the thread.
Someone spent a great deal of effort in tracking back the dates of the changes. I at one time endeavored to do the same but did not get far before on to something else.
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