Posted on 10/10/2006 4:04:27 PM PDT by wagglebee
GRESHAM, Oregon October 10, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A young boy, who had previously been diagnosed as being in a “permanent vegetative state,” has awakened from a 22 month-long coma and is breathing on his own.
Devon Rivers collapsed in a seizure during a phys-ed class in 2004 and his condition was never explained, though some doctors suggested it was caused by an unknown viral infection. Doctors agreed, however, that he had little hope of recovery.
His mother, Carla Rivers, visited him regularly and, in addition to physical therapy by his paediatric nursing home to keep his limbs supple, she talked to him in the belief that coma patients can retain their hearing and some understanding.
"For two years the doctors said there was no hope," said Carla Rivers. "Everything that happens in Devon's life is a gain. There's no losses."
Despite the doctors’ gloomy prognosis, eleven year-old Devon is now being prepared for occupational therapy to help him re-learn motor skills and is able to play with his siblings. Doctors cannot explain the reason either for his unexpected awakening or for his steady recovery.
In August of this year his mother, Carla Rivers, noticed that he began turning his head to follow movement; instead of a blank stare, he was reacting to his environment. Days later Devon was breathing without a respirator.
Carla Rivers said, “Devon may make a full recovery or what we see today may be what we get…God's plan is greater than ours. There's nothing we can do to force it any sooner or hold it back,” she said.
Coma patients and others with severe cognitive disabilities have been labelled “hopeless” only to recover frequently enough that some doctors and ethicists are questioning the accuracy of the diagnosis of “persistent vegetative state” (PVS).
The diagnosis is ambiguous in that symptoms of patients can vary greatly and still be called “vegetative.” A 1996 study published in the British Medical Journal showed that 43% of patients diagnosed with PVS do not qualify for the diagnosis.
In 2003, Kate Adamson, a former coma patient who had been diagnosed PVS, appeared on the television talk show the O'Reilly Factor. She said that, like Terri Schiavo, the hospital had removed her feeding tube that was only reinserted after eight days when her lawyer-husband threatened to sue the hospital.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Diagnosis of Persistent Vegetative State Questioned as Former Patient Speaks Out
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/nov/03111207.html
"But I saw the videos of her. She was alive and conscious. For those of you who think she was a corpse with a beating heart I feel sick for you. If you can't even tell when someone's alive or not? "
excellent point.
If this case were not so politically charged people would not have been so dismissive of this video.
No matter what Terri did it "wasn't enough".
To show SOME resonsiveness was not "enough" responsiveness.
If she had recited her ABC's there would have been people who said "well..that still isn't speech"
Because she wasn't responsive ALL the time they say "there was only 2 minutes of responsiveness out of hours of tape"
And I'm willing to bet 99% of these folks have never worked with brain injured patients.
The nature of the injury requires caregivers to wait for delayed responses (the brain is slower in processing stimuli) and the nature of the injury prevents them from being responsive 100% of the time.
"Hypokalemia is always dietary, unless there are other causes. Trauma wasn't involved here and the readings were apparently low enough that the cause was dietary. Her heart failed to pump, because of her eating habits. It resulted in her passing out and having a heart problem. this didn't happen after the hospital care. It's why she went in the first place."
Mark Fuhrman investigated claims of a heart condition related to possible eating disorder.
They were groundless.
Terri's heart was healthy - and there was no proof of an eating disorder.
Terri experienced a lack of oxygen to the brain, and because her heart was strong she survived the intitial collapse.
"The excitement never ends around here."
No kidding!
It seems we have folks here with more expertise than doctors who've studied these brain conditions their whole lives!
It must be arguing on forums gives these people more knowledge than medical professionals who have real life experience.
Infarct does not mean "dead cells" either.
>> I explained above that his comment was meaningless, because it amounted to a single, non reproducible observation.
Stop trying to explain away the truth. You are not permitted to rewrite history to suit your agenda. Dr. Cranford said what he said -- on the record. Live with it. We all heard him and we do not need you trying to cover up for him.
It neans DEAD CDELLS! I don't care how it was caused.
"Stop trying to explain away the truth. You are not permitted to rewrite history to suit your agenda. Dr. Cranford said what he said -- on the record. Live with it. We all heard him and we do not need you trying to cover up for him."
Whatever.
Are you sure you want to keep up this nonsense? OK, by your own reasoning, we now have "direct evidence" that Michael assaulted Terri! Hypokalemia is evidence of trauma. I showed you the NIH study to that effect in #216, but evidently you didn't look at it. Here it is again: Landmark U.S. government study associates hypokalemia with violence
At the same time, just in terms of blood chemistry, we must rule out bulimia at once. Here are two reasons. 1) This was transient hypokalemia, not chronic (also explained in #216). Acute, one-time hypokalemia of this sort is not associated with bulimia. 2) Terri's blood showed lactic acidosis. You can't explain that one with dietary disorder. Lactic acidosis, like hypokalemia, suggests violence -- specifically, asphyxiation.
Now we have NO evidence of bulimia, "direct" or otherwise, and TWO pieces of medical evidence that Terri suffered her brain damage in a violent assault.
It old. The woman was in a PVS and was never going to get better.
"You are misrepresenting the experts who expressed doubt as to Terri's diagnosis. "
No. It s as I said.
"And your proof of this is...what exactly? "
What they said conflicted with reality. The woman was blind! The rest is simply imagination.
"No..there was no verification. "
It was verified.
Learn about what you're reading and talking about first, because you don't understand it.
"Acute, one-time hypokalemia of this sort is not associated with bulimia."
Reidiculous.
"Terri's blood showed lactic acidosis. You can't explain that one with dietary disorder."
It's simply consistent with the circulatory failure resulting from the hypokalemia.
That's like saying the sky is always blue unless it is some other color.
There are several logical explanations for Terri's one hypokalemic episode, whereas bulimia is barely worth considering at all. It is only rarely associated with death or severe injury due to potassium deficiency, and only in chronic dietary abuse that was never observed. Besides, Terri is known not to have purged. This was at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning, remember -- she was asleep.
Read the autopsy report. Dr. Thogmartin gives you the medical case, or at least enough of one to persuade anyone. Nobody seriously advances a bulimia theory any more. The theory is full of holes.
The scales means that about 1/2 her brain is damaged. That's a ton of damage, and she should be severely disabled. However, she is not.
The brain is amazing!
Save the silly posturing until you read the autopsy report. You cannot discuss it intelligently unless you read it.
Tell it to the National Institute of Health doctors who conducted the study. And when you do, be sure to retain your unique spelling. They will appreciate the depth of your position.
IT is my statement about death being part of God's plan. You don't have to read the whole Bible to find out about it. Just the first few chapters of Genesis.
> It's simply consistent with the circulatory failure resulting from the hypokalemia.
Be sure to let Dr. Thogmartin know. He probably overlooked your keen understandings in ruling out bulimia.
The Christian view associates death with Satan, not God. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." -- Romans 6:23
Yes, but not yet, not in this world, not with this body.
Of course she was. I assume that's a prime reason Michael would not allow many visitors. They would have seen her alertness with their own eyes, and that would have wrecked his case. By my informal count, other than medics, Terri had only sixteen different visitors over the years -- family, a couple of close friends, priests, lawyers. Only one reporter that I know of made it into her room, briefly. Perhaps I missed a few visitors, but my count of sixteen will give you an idea how few there were over many years.
What they visitors had in common was, nearly all of them found that Terri was alert and responsive. If one or two had doubts, they also doubted the PVS diagnosis. Not that anyone was underestimating her injury, mind; but Terri was still "in there."
Two of Terri's visitors have written almost lyrically about Terri's vivacity -- Mayo neurologist William Cheshire, who changed his mind about the PVS diagnosis upon visiting her and came to the conclusion that it would be a crime to remove the PEG tube. The other was her last attorney, David Gibbs, who wrote up his almost loving impressions in his book, "Fighting for Dear Life" (even the title reflects Terri). The attraction was apparently mutual. By good accounts, Terri got an immediate crush on Gibbs!
Fair enough. But it is wise to keep the whole Christian message in mind, as an antidote to the siren songs of the right-to-die advocates.
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