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.]
:-)
I don't see any indication here that the bone scan was available to the Schindlers until this testimony, something like twelve years after the fact. (Does anyone? Did I miss something?) As I noted elsewhere, those words "over time" are slippery. He should have given actual dates. The question has not been settled.
Hopefully, Mark Furhman's new book will remedy that! I think it'll be out in a week or two.
"I don't see any indication here that the bone scan was available to the Schindlers until this testimony,"
It's in the court docs posted a multitude of times.
"I see posted and hear it said"
Been visiting the DU underground? They have a lot of hear-said too.
Everyone is living -- but at different levels. Why so low yours?
But, but...that would mean that people actually have to READ the court documents. And we can't have that; too much work don't you know.
What does it say? At best that the father -- like any decent dad -- would do near anything to keep his kid alive. Don;t join up with the cold and callous. Know what a good father is.
Excellent!
Ah yes, hey sinkspur! Are you still believing the suicide in the park fantasy?
We seem to be addressing different questions. Never mind, I'll check it out later. No more time now.
I'd say you were caught misrepresenting what was really going on or said on alleged "court documents" even at a place that you recommend. I can't recommend it since I don't know if it's a reliable, trustworthy place or not. It's just another place on the internet.
I can tell you they get their faxes from Greer at Kinko's though.
If the Schindlers testified in court before 2001 that they had seen all the medical reports, they might have *thought* they'd seen all of them but really hadn't.
What you sent us to clearly said that the court conceded that the Schindlers hadn't known about the bone scan, though some of her attorneys over the years *might* have or had it in their possession.
And if the Schindlers hadn't been given the bone scan prior to 2001, then they are perfectly truthful in saying that it had been withheld from them. No matter who might have withheld it from them. Even if it was one or two of their own lawyers.
That lady lawyer (Anderson?) sure doesn't seem to have known about it until Felos handed it to her.
I see in a later post, #838 I believe, that you have posted something else to change the subject. I glanced over it and can already see some problems with it.
I'll address that later when it's cooler. I just got in from a long hot 96 degree day.
Yes, it was a hypothetical question and it's absurd to make anything of it. But note in passing, one of our great Freepers lost three limbs in an accident many years ago. There's nothing hypothetical about him, and he's one of the most cheerful souls in the Free Republic. He gets around well with his artificial limbs, lives a good life and cheers up everyone he's around.
Yes -- I remember seeing him at the MFJ. He was a jolly fellow, iirc, full of zest.
"Why so low yours?"
Huh?
Still takes the drug every day, and every muscle moved is voluntary -- a conscious thought to drive it. Hard to walk and talk at the same time when you have to think about every placement of the tongue and vocal cords, but he can do that too.
A man of great will-power, used well.
You aren't dieing. You are alive. Live! L'chaim!
You would think Limbacher would know not to start with this by now: "Dr. William Hammesfahr, nominated for a Nobel Prize for his work in Medicine ..." Someone needs to quietly notify Limbacher that Ham was behind his own 'nomination'. Leave that out of his CV and he still is impressive and probably a darn good MD.
Do you have source for that?
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