Posted on 06/28/2007 3:58:52 PM PDT by wagglebee
CHANDLER, Arizona, June 28, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Written off by doctors as a hopeless “vegetable”, an Arizona man would not now be on his way to recovery from an accident caused by a marital quarrel if not for his family’s unrelenting struggle for his life.
The Arizona Republic reports that on Wednesday, Jesse Ramirez, awoke from his nearly month long persistent vegetative state (PVS) and now “can hug and kiss, nod his head, answer yes and no questions, give a thumbs-up sign and sit in a chair.”
If not for the past few weeks’ legal battles that ended Tuesday with a favorable settlement for him and his family, Jesse Ramirez, who depended on feeding tubes for food and water, would certainly have died in circumstances very similar to the tragic 2005 death of Terri Schindler-Schiavo.
On May 30, Jesse Ramirez and his wife Rebecca Ramirez were quarreling in their SUV when he lost control and crashed into a pottery market, ejecting them both from the vehicle. Ramirez suffered a broken neck and major head-trauma, while his wife had only minor injuries.
Just before the accident, Rebecca had attempted to jump from the moving vehicle saying she was afraid of her husband, who accused her of marital infidelity. Police have yet to determine what exactly led Ramirez to lose control of the wheel.
Ten days after the accident and Ramirez’s PVS diagnosis, Rebecca ordered the hospice where he was staying to remove his feeding tubes on June 8. Ramirez family then began pleading with her to let them try and save his life.
“I'm asking you for the biggest favor of my life,” Jesse’s father told her. “Can you give my son another chance?” Jesse Ramirez Sr. told the Arizona Republic she then hung up on him.
In desperation, the family turned to the Scottsdale-based Alliance Defense Fund, which challenged the prudence of allowing Rebecca to arbitrate her husband’s fate, considering their recent marital strife.
“We've got to make sure the decision-maker is the very best and most capable one,” senior counsel Gary McCaleb told the Arizona Republic. “She said she was in fear of her life. Ten days later, she's going to say whether he lives or dies? Frankly, it's too much to ask of the wife.”
Maricopa County Superior Court judge Paul Katz agreed and ordered the tubes reconnected while an independent attorney mediated between Rebecca Ramirez and Jesse’s family and talked to Jesse's doctors. Then Tuesday Katz ruled that a court-appointed guardian would make decisions for Ramirez while the court continued to investigate his health.
“As we have discussed here previously, PVS is often misdiagnosed. More importantly, it can't be done accurately after only a few weeks post trauma. So, why the rush in this case to write the man off?” commented bioethics expert and author Wesley J. Smith on his blog. “This much is sure: But for parents willing to fight for his life, Ramirez would be dead today rather than entering the rehabilitation unit.”
We’re running short of trolls. I think the few we have left are busy at the illegal immigrant threads.
There’s a troll shortage? Has anyone looked under the bridge? ;^)
Most of them are howlin with the other anti-FReeper WAckos.
I was thinking of sending out to the all night Troll Bell for take out. I hear they’re wide awake all night, and have trolls of every flavor.
I could ping a few if you're bored.
Well, that’s just peachy!
Wow!
18 posts and no pro-death trolls yet!
Must be a new record for these threads.
Not surprisingly, a good portion of the vultures also happened to be Rudy supporters.
LMAO!
I’m on call, so I might have to duck out with no notice. That would be rude, and you know I hate to be rude to trolls.
No no, that’s alright. It’s just unusual to have a shortage of something you don’t want. Gasoline, toilet paper, sour cream, those are things I expect shortages of.
Yeah, I don’t really care if the pro-murder WAckos likes me or not.
I'm not even going to ask!!!
They don’t. Believe me, they don’t like you at all. Which puts you in good company. Some of them were zotted for the nasty things they said about President Reagan. So, you don’t want them to like you anyway.
Are you too young to remember Carter’s years?
Yep, we’ve had our “feet on their necks” for too long.
BTTT. Choose life.
I was a spoiled rich kid during the Carter years. I remember my father sending people who worked for him out to get gas, but I don’t recall a problem with toilet paper or sour cream.
Yes, little Miss peach cobbler got herself banned back in April. I don’t miss her at all.
But I do remember grocery stores being completely cleared of t-paper and other essential items during Carter's Presidency. I don't recall the exact details of what triggered it, there wasn't an actual shortage of materials, but the malaise attitude Carter engendered created real panic on the heels of the gas crisis.
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