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This one is eye-opening. Dr. Ragucci is a living rebuke to all that bovine scat we heard from Felos, Bushnell and the wife-killer himself.

Mark Ragucci's story: In a Stroke Patient, Doctor Sees Power Of Brain to Recover / 'Neurointensive' Care Gains Adherents, Despite Risk Of Raising False Hopes / 'Too Often, People Give Up'

>>Doctors often make minimal efforts to save the lives of advanced stroke victims, especially those who are days or weeks into a coma. They often see the prospects of survival as low and question the value of saving a life that they expect, in the best case, to be severely constrained by mental and physical damage.

>>Now proponents of neurointensive care are challenging these assumptions. They say many of the studies underlying the earlier consensus are out of date, and they believe newer treatments such as one designed to cool the brain may help stroke patients in comas. "Doctors are telling people there's no hope when, in fact, there is," says Dr. Mayer.

>>Dr. Ragucci, who is now at 35 back to practicing rehabilitation medicine, says he was somewhat conscious even when his doctors perceived no brain activity, and it bothered him to hear nurses and doctors referring to him in the past tense. "Somebody has to realize that you're in there," he says. "Just because you can't move doesn't mean there's not somebody in there."

I know of no other term that pops up automatically so often as the subject of living wills as it links to Terri's Legacy. Useful or useless as they may be in their many incarnations for both the patients and for those who would use the words against them, their tie to Terri's Legacy is secure.

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37% of people in the U.S. now have a living will. Officials say it's never too early to start talking about it.

Snip...

Reporter's Notes by Jake Wasikowski:

Lawyers say most living will are written when an estate will is documented.
But if you can't get anything written down, you should at least have that conversation with family members so they understand your wishes.
Before the Terri Schiavo case 20% of Americans had living wills so there's been a 17% increase in the past few years.

Death & Dying: Living Wills

8mm

Organ Donation from Cardiac Death Patients

In the future patient’s who had suffered cardiac death would have their bodies prepared for transplantation when they are still alive.

The Australian Health Ethics Committee that is working on organ donation is seeking to extend the transplant preparations to patients who are certain to die after experiencing cardiac death. This is because solid organs like the heart, liver lungs and kidneys begin to deteriorate immediately after the cessation of blood circulation. In the past, transplant preparations have only been carried out on brain-dead patients.

Peter Joseph, chair of the ethics committee said that it is important to extend the preparation procedures to living patients in order to meet the organ donation demands. There are two ways in which a doctor can certify death one being brain death and the other cardiac death. Brain death is when the patient has lost all brain function completely and permanently. (Of course, there are no standards for determining this, and opinions often vary.) In such cases the organs are preserved via a ventilator for the purpose of donation. These preparations have been made legitimate and present no ethical barrier in brain dead patients.

In case of cardiac death the heart stops beating and within a few minutes the organs deteriorate by themselves. Hence it is necessary to make certain treatments to extend the shelf life of the organs. Dr Joseph (Not necessarily Mengele.) said that these preparations would not be done without the permission of the donor or the donor's family. Hence the committee wants legislation made uniform so the practice is made legal in all states and territories.