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Thinking He Was Brain Dead Family Was Set to Give Away His Organs, Then He Held Up Two Fingers
Life News ^ | May 16, 2014 | Steven Ertelt

Posted on 05/16/2014 2:04:02 PM PDT by NYer

LifeNews has repeatedly profiled cases where doctors may too quickly began cutting up patients who are not really dead to begin harvesting their organs for donations.

These kinds of cases have happened before, as supposedly “brain dead” patients have come back to life just before having their vital organs taken from them after prematurely being declared dead. Although there is nothing morally wrong with organ donations — in fact, it’s arguably a very pro-life action to take — these kinds of stories ought to remind organ donors (and any patient and their family) that doctors are too quickly declaring patients dead or too far gone to treat.

samschmid

Sam Schmid, an Arizona college student who was thought to be brain dead, recovered from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in October just hours before he was slated to be killed and his organs given to other patients.

The accident took the life of his best friend and college roomate and Schmid’s injuries were thought to be so grievous that a local hospital could not treat him and he was sent to Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Phoenix to receive surgery for a life-threatening aneurysm.

As hospital officials began palliative care and talked with his parents about organ donation, Schmid began to hold up two fingers on command and started walking with the aid of a walker.

ABC News has more:

Two years ago, Sam Schmid’s close encounter with death was called a “Christmas miracle.” As he lay in a coma after sustaining massive brain injuries in a car crash, doctors were discussing organ donation with his parents and ready to take him off life support.

Schmid astounded those at his hospital bedside who thought he was brain dead, raising two fingers to signal he still had life left in him. But at the time, no one knew if the Tucson, Ariz., college student would ever return to his studies — or even walk or talk again.

Today at 23, he is a force on the basketball court, enrolled in college classes and is hoping to be a veterinary technician. Schmid credits his surgeon and the Center for Transitional Neuro Rehabilitation at Barrow Neurological Institute, where he was recently discharged.

Schmid was a junior and business major at the University of Arizona when he was critically wounded in an Oct. 19, 2011 five-car accident in Tucson.

He was returning from coaching basketball at his former Catholic school when a van swerved into his lane. The Jeep in which he was riding went airborne, hit a light pole and landed on its side. Schmid’s left hand and both of his femurs broke and required surgery. But he had suffered massive head injuries that are nearly always fatal.

The 21-year-old’s brain injuries were so severe that the local hospital could not treat him. He was airlifted to Barrow at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Phoenix, where specialists performed surgery for a life-threatening aneurysm.

As hospital officials began palliative care and broached the subject of organ donation with his family, Schmid began to respond, holding up two fingers on command.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: euthenasia; ghouls; organdonation; organdonors; organharvesting; partsisparts; takenoutwhileliving; uninformedconsent
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1 posted on 05/16/2014 2:04:02 PM PDT by NYer
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To: wagglebee; little jeremiah

Ping!


2 posted on 05/16/2014 2:04:26 PM PDT by NYer ("You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears." James 4:14)
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To: NYer

If it was me I would have held up one finger


3 posted on 05/16/2014 2:07:36 PM PDT by Mount Athos (A Giant luxury mega-mansion for Gore, a Government Green EcoShack made of poo for you)
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To: NYer

As hospital officials began palliative care and talked with his parents about organ donation, Schmid began to hold up two fingers on command and started walking with the aid of a walker.


They were going to harvest his organs when he what? Got up and started walking?? Can’t be.


4 posted on 05/16/2014 2:08:04 PM PDT by Yaelle
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To: NYer

There is a lot of money in human organs, but I’m sure they aren’t anxious to declare someone dead just because of the dollar signs in their eyes.


5 posted on 05/16/2014 2:08:40 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government." --Tacitus)
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To: NYer

"Were you pulling the plug on me?"

6 posted on 05/16/2014 2:08:47 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Mount Athos

>>If it was me I would have held up one finger<<

Maybe he had to go to the bathroom.

Don’t forget, that is what killed Elvis.


7 posted on 05/16/2014 2:09:35 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (Fight Tapinophobia in all its forms! Do not submit to arduus privilege.)
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To: NYer

The vultures harvest the organs while the victim is still living and they don’t even give anesthesia while they steal the organs “can’t feel anything anyway”.

My friend was angered when it was done to his brother by his sister-in-law’s decree.


8 posted on 05/16/2014 2:10:16 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (The new witchhunt: "Do you NOW, . . . or have you EVER , . . supported traditional marriage?")
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To: NYer

I don’t care, I’m not giving his kidney back.


9 posted on 05/16/2014 2:11:11 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

It’s your body to do with as you wish, unless you want to sell an organ. Then it belongs to the State and well connected medical profession.


10 posted on 05/16/2014 2:11:27 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (The new witchhunt: "Do you NOW, . . . or have you EVER , . . supported traditional marriage?")
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To: Mount Athos

LOL! And I laughed at the Monty Python episode where they came to the donor’s place to take the organ, before the donor had died. “But I’m not dead yet!”...”Nope, gotta have it now!”


11 posted on 05/16/2014 2:11:40 PM PDT by SgtHooper (This is my tag!)
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To: NYer

Reason not to carry donor card?


12 posted on 05/16/2014 2:12:26 PM PDT by luvbach1 (We are finished. It will just take a while before everyone realizes it.)
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To: Mount Athos

Well, he “does” have two of those fingers . . . double emphasis!


13 posted on 05/16/2014 2:17:09 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress (http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/BYTOPICS/tabid/335/Default.aspx)
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To: Mount Athos

“If it was me I would have held up one finger”

Thanks for my first good laugh today!


14 posted on 05/16/2014 2:18:24 PM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: NYer

Yet another reason why my DL does NOT have the go ahead and harvest me code...


15 posted on 05/16/2014 2:21:48 PM PDT by Regulator
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FR Needs Donors To Survive

Please Donate!

16 posted on 05/16/2014 2:31:19 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra
Here's to the transplant surgeons. Sorry how this text looks, but I had to try it out on this thread.
18 posted on 05/16/2014 2:37:42 PM PDT by Holdem Or Foldem (Life isn't fair, so wear a cup.)
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To: F15Eagle

She did. There were videos, showing her very much alive. He gave his permission to murder her anyway.


19 posted on 05/16/2014 2:39:05 PM PDT by BykrBayb (Wagglebee please come home we miss you! ~ Þ)
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Comment #20 Removed by Moderator


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