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.]
Dr. H has the personality of a huckster.
I guess the reason there are no charges with regard to
his claim has to do with the fact he WAS nominated
for the Nobel -- he just doesn't explain that it was an
INVALID nomination :-)
But his situation is more complicated than appears from
posts here. The charges (in both legal and financial
definitions) were reversed, as Media Matter explained.
They were wrong on this and said they regretted it.
The most interesting article cited on forums is
this one: St. Petersburg article about Hammesfahr at
http://tinyurl.com/6549f
He seems an intelligent, creative guy who is
irresponsibly lazy about going the approved medical
route (peer review process) to prove the efficacy of his
treatment theories (which have surprisingly good results).
Some might want to rethink whether they'd try his
treatment when general medicine has given up on them
though.
Regarding autopsy findings that 'pvs' was consistent
with what they found physically, 'minimally conscious'
state (believed by Mayo neurologist Dr. Cheshire to be
the accurate clinical diagnosis for Schiavo), here is
another article cited on forums that I imagine most will
find fascinating. It's about research at Sloan
Kettering with brain energy studies. Note the differences
between pvs and mc states.
http://www.msu.edu/course/hm/546/nyt_pvs.htm
An edit here for the last paragraph above.
It should have read:
-----"Regarding autopsy findings that 'pvs' was consistent
with what they found physically, 'minimally conscious'
state (believed by Mayo neurologist Dr. Cheshire to be
the accurate clinical diagnosis for Schiavo) was also.
Here is another article cited on forums that I imagine
most will find fascinating. It's about research at Sloan
Kettering with brain energy studies. Note the differences
between pvs and mc states.
http://www.msu.edu/course/hm/546/nyt_pvs.htm
"
-----
Good points, but Michael didn't remember Terri's "wishes"
until FIVE years *after* he got the award for her care
(untouched at that point until 1999 and at the point he
was starting a new family and moving in with his fiance).
The money was intact in 1998. The memories apparently
came flooding in and were 'supported' suddenly by his
brother and his brother's wife.
Now, a few months after he got the money for her care
(which he said he would be happy to do forever), he
gave instructions to the nursing care facility to "not
treat" an infection he later admitted in testimony he
knew might kill her. He also gave a Do Not Treat order
in case of a sudden failure. The nursing facility
objected and challenged him. This was in late '93.
They won on that. He testified he would not be doing
that again because he now knew it was illegal.
http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/terri.html
The money for her care would stay in the fund
for those 5 years. His flood of memories would have
positioned him to inherit it. However, the parents
fought this, and Michael had to spend about $600,000
of it on legal bills instead after '98.
I pray that you and the other posters here will be able to see that we are merely fighting for the status quo - the America we always have had.
When asked to - something that requires processing in her brain.
You said the implants should have been removed. I asked for a link to that.
"Yawn. Where is the crime?"
Why must there be a crime?
Durbin didn't commit a crime.
That doesn't make him any less of grandstanding-self-promoting-exploiting-the-moment ass.
Dr. Hammesfahr "It has nothing to do with Terri."
Twit, if someone is going to publish the opinions of someone and use the same to bolster their case, that someone has to have some degree of credibility if they're to be believed. If they have not credibility what's the point of the opinion?
They may as well have used PeeWee Herman to write the article.
"Dude, Hammersfarb is a con man, a snake oil salesman,"
"That is what they tried to prove alright. It didn't work out your way however."
Duuuuude. Read the court transcripts. He was dismissed as anything serious/of value.
Yes, indeed. I puzzled that he ever won that case, but nobody really fought it. That is, they didn't seriously contest the bulimia claim, probably because nobody had any other idea how it happened. The settlement seemed less like a verdict than a compromise all around to raise money for Terri's care, with the insurance company saying OK but no more than $xxxx.
One lesson: never, never, never let lawyers touch a trust fund.
"Notice that good old Mikey the Ghoul wouldn't allow a brain scan to be performed while this poor woman was alive."
What is your understanding of page 20 of the autopsy regarding this issue, the FDA advisory pertaining to MRI's and people with implanted electrodes?
Sorry, I don't follow your point. Never mind, no more time for it anyway. Peace.
"Unfortunately, he couldn't distinguish between a coma and PVS at trial."
But he did stay at a Holiday Inn!!!
"So why hasn’t an MRI been done for Terri? That question has never been satisfactorily answered. George Felos has argued that an MRI can’t be done because of thalamic implants that were placed in Terri’s skull during the last attempt at therapy, dating back to 1992. But Felos’s contention ignores the fact that these implants could be removed. Indeed, the doctor who put them in instructed Michael to have them removed. Michael has never done so. "
Living wills are death warrants. The presumption in a good society must be for life.
Thank you for the link. I've read through quite a lot of medical testimony and don't recall their suggesting the implants come out. I guess, considering that even our usual reliable conservative press has gotten so much about this case wrong in terms of the medical stuff, that I'd rather know what the docs who actually treated her said.
Under oath. Not just what National Review said the doctors said. If that makes sense. But I thank you for finding that link.
I think many people that found what happened to Terri to be wrong all attribute a huge part of the failing to be that which occurred in the court room under George Greer. So when you say the court did this and the court did that and so it must be ok makes it only look like you are not hearing a word of what people are syaing.
"[Florida's] 765 law was changed to allow an "friend" to say that the person wanted life-prolonging procedures withdrawn without a written directive.And also that nutrition and hydration which had NOT been considered medical treatment, are now considered medical treatment. Polite society considers food and water basic human care. No longer so in Florida.They also state that advanced directives providing for treatment should not carry the same weight as directives withdrawing care, and advanced directives should not compel the physican to provide them, regardless if the patient needs them."
In Florida basic human sustenance is now "medical treatment" and may be withdrawn at the discretion of the medical staff or by a Judge.
Not polite -- but murderous that turn of law. In Florida's new murderous regime of law, of convenient euthanasia your advance directive to keep you alive will be ignored -- that ignorance is also lawful. Yet some "friends" say-so that you did not wish to continue in your condition will be acted upon pronto.
Murder and lies of convenience in a new regime of medical terror.
That is -- if you do not want to lie about it, you'll call it what it is -- murder.
And it is fiendishly impolite.
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