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Coma Recovery After 19 Years Poses Questions About Terri Schiavo
LifeSite ^ | July 4, 2006 | Peter J. Smith

Posted on 07/05/2006 6:14:19 AM PDT by NYer

Mountain View, Arkansas, July 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Monday The Journal of Clinical Investigation published new research on the recovery of a brain damaged man from his 19 years in a minimally conscious state, adding to the growing evidence that those with “hopelessly” severe brain injuries may be able to recuperate with therapy or other kinds of assistance.

The Journal’s research focuses on the sudden recovery of Terry Wallis, who experienced a car wreck in 1984 when he was 19 years old. The accident sheared the nerve connections in his brain, putting him in a minimally conscious state (MCS) and rendering him a quadriplegic. Terry, a young husband with a newborn child, was considered a hopeless case, especially considering that his family could not pay the $120,000 needed to consult a neurologist about any possibility of recovery. However in 2003, during one of the regular visits of his mother, who had regularly visited him at the Rehabilitation Centre in Mountain View, Arkansas, he made what seemed a sudden recovery, and spoke “mom”, his first word in 19 years.

The research indicates that Terry’s brain grew new tiny nerve connections over time, creating a new nerve network to replace the old one that was severely damaged in the car accident. While doctors and neurologists are still baffled as to ‘why’ Terry recovered, the doctors at the rehabilitation centre have indicated that Terry’s recovery might be attributed to the visits of his family, who took him out on weekends and special occasions. This may have acted as a mental therapy to help his brain recover.

“He now seems exactly like his old self,” says Jerry Wallis, Terry’s father. Over the 19 years of Terry’s coma, both Jerry and his mother Angilee had doubts at some time or another about whether or not it was better for Terry to be alive. However, now both are glad they never caved into those doubts. Since then they have seen their son make strides in his recovery with the ambition of walking for his daughter. “He very often tells us how glad he is to be alive,” says Terry’s father.

Terry Wallis’ remarkable recovery after 19 years, however, stands in stark opposition to the case of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, who received no therapy from her philandering husband after her 1990 collapse. She was instead dehydrated to death by court order in March 2005. Although some doctors claim that Terri Schiavo could not have made Terry Wallis’ recovery since she was in a persistent vegetative state (PVS), witnesses such as former nurse Carla Iyer maintained that with therapy, Schiavo, who said words like “mommy, help me”, could have indeed recovered over time.

New research on the ability of the brain to recover over time questions the hastiness of many in the medical profession to condemn patients as irreversibly brain-dead or damaged. Back in May, South African researchers discovered a drug that helps PVS patients temporarily recover to a fully conscious state. In a BBC interview Dr. Ralf Clauss, a scientist in nuclear medicine and one of the drug researchers, stated that “For every damaged area of the brain, there is a dormant area, which seems to be a sort of protective mechanism. The damaged tissue is dead, there’s nothing you can do,” he explained. “But it’s the dormant areas which ‘wake up’.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: Arkansas; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: balloongirl; beatingadeadhorse; coma; lifesite; schiavo; schindler; terri; terribots; terribotsonthemove; terrischiavo; terrywallis; thepassionoftheterri
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To: 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember; afraidfortherepublic; Alas; al_c; american colleen; annalex; ...


41 posted on 07/05/2006 7:16:58 PM PDT by Coleus (Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, algae)
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To: MAD-AS-HELL
For those to say that this guy's miracle shows that Terry could have recovered are just plain irresponsible.

No one said that. What people are saying is that so-called irreversible brain damage may not always be so. This case adresses many of the arguments that came up during the Schiavo case.

42 posted on 07/05/2006 7:35:54 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (California bashers will be called out)
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Terri Schindler-Schiavo ... She was [ ] dehydrated to death by court order in March 2005.

Bears repeating that the government ordered her to be killed.

43 posted on 07/05/2006 7:50:10 PM PDT by my_pointy_head_is_sharp (Evil never sleeps...)
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To: NYer

Unfortunately you need more than a medical example to stop judicial murder and turn back the Culture of Death.

You need to take back the courts, the news media, and the culture, against the screaming protests of the leftist elitists who currently have seized the levers of cultural power.


44 posted on 07/06/2006 7:26:51 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: fatnotlazy

"This particular patient did have some established cognizant ability ..." And video of Terri taken in a wheelchair prior to the court awards of millions her husband-in-name-only sued for show Terri with some cognizant abilities, such as following directions on where to look around a lake. Terri was an inconvenience to the husband's lifestyle goals. Additionally, Terri was a goal for the euthanasia movement so Greer and Felos needed her to be dehydrated to death to point the movement onward and upward. Murdering Terri was far too easy ... I believe a direct result of thirty plus years of serial killing protected by a subpreme court. The state of Florida was the perfect location to vault the euthanasia agenda forward.


45 posted on 07/06/2006 7:48:34 AM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: BikerJoe

There are many now stinking up FR who enjoy rubbing salt in wounds. They are mostly in the Neal Boortz faction of libertarian lalaland and take great pleasure in being as cold and dead-souled as they can convey with their offensive posts. Don't feed the pissants.


46 posted on 07/06/2006 7:56:22 AM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: GovernmentShrinker

Amen, GS. Wise words ...


47 posted on 07/06/2006 7:58:03 AM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: GovernmentShrinker

But I wouldn't agree that it was too late ... but then I'm an eternal optimist.


48 posted on 07/06/2006 7:59:39 AM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: my_pointy_head_is_sharp

Yes. This is the scariest point of all. The government denied Terri's civil rights: of religion and LIFE! Terri's first amendment rights were violated, as well as her fifth.

Terri was a lifelong Catholic--as witnessed at her baptism, and confirmation; and then reaffirmed at her wedding. All very public and witnessed by her friends and family. Terri never renounced her religion---and the state forced her to be a participant in an act which is a sin in her religion.

The Terri Schiavo case is a very clear case of FEDERAL civil rights violation, by the state, of an American Citizen. The "American with Disabilities act" is clearly violated:

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),42 U.S.C. Sections 12101 provides that necessary and appropriate rehabilitation services and physical/motor skill therapy may not be denied a substantially disabled patient in the United States of America.
Cf 28 CFR, Ch 1, Subpart B, Sect 35.130 States "Nothing in the Act or this part authorizes the representative or guardian of an individual with a disability to decline FOOD, WATER, medical treatment, or medical services for that individual."

Finally, think about this: A PROBATE judge in Florida, ordered Terri Killed. A judge who decides the division of property on the event of death, had power over the LIFE of Terri Schiavo. Terri was treated as her husband's PROPERTY---instead of an individual.

Treating women as property was outlawed over one hundred years ago....yet it was done.

I would love for the family to take that case to the Supreme Court.


49 posted on 07/06/2006 8:12:05 AM PDT by tuckrdout (The good man wins his case by careful argument; the evil-minded only wants to fight. Prov. 13:2)
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To: MAD-AS-HELL
Obviously his recovery doesn't mean that Terri Schiavo would have recovered. What it does show is that recovery is possible after severe brain damage and almost 2 decades in a coma.

Those who were for her starvation believed in this position because there was no chance of her ever recovering. This proves them wrong, there was a chance, even after 19 years.

The Schiavo situation was one where her family was willing to take full responsibility for her care. Her "husband" had moved on with his life to the point of having 3 children with another woman and should have been removed from Terri Schiavo's life (In my opinion, not the courts). Also, she was not, according to her autopsy report, in any dying process then or in any near future, her death was unjustified.

The next time someone decides to starve a human to death because they have brain damage, I hope this man's story is taken into full consideration. Even if there is a chance, a remote chance, that a person could recover we move from the realm of a humane death to murder.
50 posted on 07/06/2006 8:29:19 AM PDT by Brytani (Someone stole my tagline - reward for its return!!!)
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To: MHGinTN

I think Terri really was hopeless by the first time her feeding tube was pulled. Even so, I didn't agree with the decision. She was a very unusual case, in that she really didn't require anything but tube feeding to stay alive, and her parents and siblings were willing to do this at home at their own expense, so there was no issue of taxpayers or insurers being forced to foot the bill for long-term futile care. In addition, according to all the really qualified neurologists who examined her, she was utterly incapable of any kind of awareness, so there was also no issue that she would be forced to suffer when she might have preferred to have been let go.

Michael's behavior was so appalling from start to finish, that as far as I'm concerned, his feelings shouldn't have been part of the equation (I also don't happen to believe that government should recognize marriage at all, and Michael is a simply awesome poster child for that viewpoint -- that government-issued/recognized piece of paper was the ONLY thing that gave him standing to be involved in the decisions for Terri). Which leaves the feelings of Terri's parents and siblings as the only issue to consider. Even though I think they were deluding themselves that she still had any awareness, there was simply no harm to be done by letting them continue to be comforted by this delusion -- no expense to anyone who didn't share it, no suffering on Terri's part -- and a lot of harm to be done by having them believe she was aware while starving to death.

In addition, in the absence of any written directive from Terri as to what she would want in a situation like that, and in the absence of any objective credibility to Michael's claim that she told him she'd want to die, the best and most objective evidence available as to what she would have wanted was that she had been a very seriously practicing Roman Catholic right up until her "collapse", and that church's position is that food and water must be continued (it authorizes the withdrawal of mechanical support like ventilators, dialysis, etc., but not withdrawal of food and water).


51 posted on 07/06/2006 8:53:26 AM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: NYer
Coma Recovery After 19 Years Poses Questions About Terri Schiavo

GOOD! Ask away!!! I'd like to hear these answers try to measure up to what was done.

52 posted on 07/06/2006 8:55:13 AM PDT by NordP (The NEW YORK TIMES - All The News Jihadists Can Use! .....(RL 06/28/06))
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To: Brytani

I am fully aware of the circumstances. The medical field is also well aware of people coming back after a coma/ brain damage against all odds. Problem is that it's far and few between. Majority of people DON'T recover is the point. My comments have nothing to do with the legal aspect but the medical aspect. Seems people on here are having a knee jerk reacion to what I typed without fully comprehending what I wrote, which is really annoying. But, it just reminds me that tere are knee jerkers on the left and on the right and both want to see what they want and ignore everything else. Schiavo was a unique case between family members. It's not representative of other people who happen to have brain damage.


53 posted on 07/06/2006 9:08:38 AM PDT by MAD-AS-HELL (Put a mirror to the face of the republican party and all you'll see is a Donkey.)
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To: NYer
If anyone is interested in reading the actual papers, the case study is here and the related commentary is here.
54 posted on 07/06/2006 9:28:55 AM PDT by Your Nightmare
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To: MAD-AS-HELL
I have always had very mixed emotions when it came to the Schiavo case.

If I was in her position, I would want to be allowed to pass in a humane manner. I have put my wishes into writing and my husband, family and doctor are all aware of my wishes. However, I have made some concessions.

In my living will I clearly state if my family feels there is some part of me left, if they is any medical intervention that can take place at the onset of the illness/accident they are to take those measures. I also have agreed if my family wants to care for me in that situation, they have the final say. I realize, if I was in the condition Terri Schiavo was in, I would not fully be able to voice my wishes so I have left the decisions to my family.

What has always bothered me and continues to bother me is her so called husband making life and death decisions for her. He claimed to want to move on with his life, and he did. He moved in with another woman, had a family with her and voiced his intentions to marry her once Terri was dead. There is nobody on this earth who could convince me he should have had the right to make life and death decisions for Terri, based solely on his legal status of marriage to her, when in fact he was as far from a husband to her as you can get.

We also know two things about the human brain. First, is we know very little about how it actually works. We know very little about the brains ability to heal or respond to trauma. Neurologists are amazed when a person thought to be untreatable or someone who should be completely incapaciated from a brain injury makes a partial or even full recovery. Though these cases are few and far between, the fact is medical science can not say who will or who will not have a miraculous recovery.

I do not believe we should take chances with human life especially in cases where the patient has not clearly put their desire in writing. Medical ethicists used to err on the side of life, a practice that should continue today.
55 posted on 07/06/2006 10:51:37 AM PDT by Brytani (Someone stole my tagline - reward for its return!!!)
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To: Brytani

Per my post #51, I didn't agree with the decision to pull Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. But there is simply no connection between the Wallis case and this one. Wallis' brain was physically intact, just not working. Most of Terri's brain, and especially the thinking/awareness parts, were simply gone; the space they had once occupied was filled with fluid. Even in a case like Wallis' where the brain is physically all or mostly intact, recovery from long-term coma or persistent vegetative state is extraordinarily rare; with most of the brain absent, it's just not possible. Even if we could learn to re-grow a brain the way we hope to regrow other organs, from stem cells, it would be a new brain and thus not the same person. In addition, Wallis had been in a "minimally conscious state" all those years, not in a coma or "persistent vegetative state" (the latter being what Terri had been in for a long time).


56 posted on 07/06/2006 11:08:42 AM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: GovernmentShrinker; floriduh voter; Tribune7; jwalsh07; Coleus; cpforlife.org
Much of the uproar over Terri's plight has served to divert attention from what -in my honest opinion- is the essence of how our society ought deal with her case and others like hers.

There was no doubt an upsurge in living wills and wills in general. That's useful. But the immediate condition of Terri when she was put to death is directly related to what happened to Terri in the past that put her in the condition she was in when the state ordered her to be put down like some useless pet. And I'm referring to more than the initial event which caused her collapse.

Terri's final brain condition was the result of a cascade over years rather than a few minutes of oxygen deprivation. Her initial trauma was truly severe, but she showed evidence of some recovery from that brain trauma as seen in videos taken during the first year or two after the initial trauma.

As far as I've been able to uncover, no thorough investigation was ever done to assess changes in Terri's condition over the many years her adulterous husband held her life literally in his treacherous, abusive hands. It is still not too late to look more deeply into the cascade of change that Terri went through and correlate those changes with what was happening in her life during each phase. As a writer, I've been itching to get at it ... but the effort is useless without her family's assistance and interest. It doesn't appear that anyone in her family wants to have that occur, so the effort will languish and her abusive husband and his hench ghouls will get away with murder by judicial fiat and national apathy.

57 posted on 07/06/2006 3:44:07 PM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: MHGinTN
Terri's family has their own book out right now. Their foundation is lawyered up and that may have something to do with it.

Please don't feel that you are being snubbed. They have contractual obligations as a foundation.

Thanks for your post and stay tuned. Someday, what happened to Terri will be exposed and it will be by a whistleblower or two rather than her parents or siblings.

It may not be until after Jeb or his older brother term out and imo, it will be a bust at the federal level. It can't happen at the state level because they conspired and/or covered it up.

58 posted on 07/07/2006 5:46:38 AM PDT by floriduh voter (www.conservative-spirit.org Tom Gallagher 4 Fla Guv www.tg2006.com.)
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