Boy in "Hopeless" Vegetative State Awakens and Steadily Improves

LifeSiteNews ^ | 10/10/06 | Hilary White

[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

[T'wit]

>> No therapy?

Pay attention. I said no therapy after 1992. Terri did get some therapy before that. Here are a couple of photos of her before Michael stopped therapy. She was making progress.

The implant was done well before that. It was supposed to be removed after a fairly short period, no more than a year I think it was, but Michael neglected to do so.

After Michael got the insurance money, it was all medical warehousing. In fact, he tried to kill her in 1993 by ordering that she not receive antibiotics when she had a urinary tract infection -- which could have led to an excruciatingly painful death. That's against the law and the facility overruled his orders. (Michael admitted under oath that he tried to kill her.) Michael wouldn't even let Terri go out in the sun for the last five years of her life.

Now. What is your theory on how she suddenly ended up almost dead when her husband came home late one Saturday night?

[SoldierDad]

Prayers up for this family that his recover continues and he makes a full recovery. Thanks for this post. Incredible story that reaffirms that God's miracles continue.

[T'wit]

There you go. Thanks for the good thoughts!

[bvw]

"In biblical times"? What does that mean? If you are quoting the Bible as you do, you can't honestly leave out that men are recordied in the Bible to have lived for hundreds of years. So that "extension of life" is a big big reduction. We've lost a few hundred in life spans! So you mean something else, but what could that be?

"Modern" inventions such as sewers, water treatment, refrigeration, central heating, anti-biotics, antiseptic surgery, and a constant rich in nutrients and calories diet have saved and lengthened many lifes. Does that mean you count access to modern plumbing, water, temperature controlled housing, use of over the counter medicine, surgery by trained professionals in a clean room environment using sterilized tools, and any food besides what can be foraged in the local woods as artificial life support -- that any husband can deny his wife, with court order, of course?

[bvw]

Thanks for your persistance in not letting this crime go forgotten by the rewriting of history.

[wagglebee]

Thanks for your persistance in not letting this crime go forgotten by the rewriting of history.

Amen!

[presently no screen name]

Thanks! No one can defend MS's actions and still be honest, IMO.

One husband threaten to sue because they TOOK OUT the feeding tube....

One husband got a court order to have the feeding tube removed...

From the link provided......

Last week Kate Adamson appeared on the programme O'Reilly Factor to relate she was diagnosed as being in a vegetative state and, like Terri Schiavo, her feeding tube was removed, only to be reinserted after eight days after her lawyer-husband threatened to sue the hospital if they did not reinsert it. Adamson also refuted the testimony of Terri's husband Michael Schiavo who suggested that PVS patients do not feel the pain of starvation.

O'Reilly asked Adamson, "So you were feeling pain when they removed your tube?" She responded, "Yes. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. To say that -- especially when Michael [Schiavo] on national TV had mentioned last week that it's a pretty painless thing to have the feeding tube removed. It is the exact opposite. It was sheer torture, Bill."

[CDHart]

"Terry Schiavo's widow."

??? Terry was female.

Carolyn

[T'wit]

The case all along has called for a Columbo. Nobody has ever explained what happened to Terri. Healthy young women simply do not end up on the floor in cardiac arrest for no reason.

Michael told at least three different stories about the events that night. Right away, you wonder why? Logically, two of the three stories had to be false, and possibly all three. If he lied twice, chances are he did indeed lie all three times. Why would he lie even once if his wife's injuries were innocent?

Michael lied to the police, too. He told them that domestic relations were good and that he had not had a fight with Terri. That was flagrantly false. The fact was -- as observed by both sides of the family and by a close friend of Terri -- they had had a vehement argument that day. The fight was so heated that Terri's friend feared for her safety and told her she should come spend the night at her house. Unfortunately, Terri declined.

Michael had to work late at a restaurant job. Soon after he got home, Terri ended up unconscious and unresponsive on the hallway floor, in cardiac arrest. That is when she suffered brain damage. Medical testing found no natural cause for her injuries. The autopsy didn't find a natural cause either.

Occam's razor tells us to look at the obvious answer and not to consider any far-fetched theory unless we can eliminate that obvious answer. The two primary causes of death and injury to young women are domestic violence and auto wrecks, in that order. The obvious suspicion is that Terri was the victim of domestic violence. Nobody has ruled it out. The autopsy did not rule it out. So why we looking anywhere else?

Michael does not have an alibi.

[T'wit]

>> men are recorded in the Bible to have lived for hundreds of years.

Sportin' Life had something to say -- or rather, sing -- about that in Porgy & Bess:

Methus’lah live nine hunderd years,
[Methus’lah live nine hunderd years—]
But who calls dat livin’
When no gal’ll give in
To no man what’s nine hunderd years?

:-) :-)

[ladyjane]

You think the Schiavo case is over?

Millions of baby boomers will be overwhelming the nursing homes and rehab centers in a few years. The health care/ insurance industry won't spend the money to care for them.

The Schiavo case was just the beginning of a trend that is happening now and will accelerate.

[cgk]

Pro-Life/Pro-baby ping!

Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Pro-Life/Pro-Baby ping list...

[cgk]

Thanks for the PING!!:)

[mware]

Am I ticked off. I wanted to forward this article on to a priest who has a radio show on Sirus (Catholic Channel) and our school blocked the life site because it was Pro-Life.

It did permit me to go on it for 10 minutes of alloted time.

I wonder if they do the same for Abortion web sites???

[graf008]

That is true - although many Boomers have articulated there desires in written documents - something that was missing in the Schiavo case (and was the real underlying cause of the court conflict). With adequately drafted living wills, the Schiavo case will not occur - whether you like the idea of living wills or not.

[mware]

Pro life pings.

What a new born baby dreams is a mystery.

[wagglebee]

Now THAT looks like it took a lot of work!!!

:-)

[wagglebee]

Typical!

Copy and paste the article from here and give him this link:

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/oct/06101001.html

[wagglebee]

The Culture of Death simply DOES NOT CARE!

[ladyjane]

With adequately drafted living wills, the Schiavo case will not occur

Actually, you're wrong. There was a case last year - an elderly woman had a living will and her grandaughter got a judge to order her starved and dehydrated. Fortunately her neice intervened. The woman was NOT happy when she learned what her darling grandaughter had done.

Others here on FR will know more details than I.

Moral of the story: your living will may not insure your wishes when your children and grandchildren want to get their hands on your money.

Another moral: spend your money now or let somebody else spend it later.