Agree 100%. The fact that HBOT would definetively move brain injured folks from palliative care to rehabiliutative care is an interesting study.
Pray that babies with birth injuries can get into chambers immediately, near drowning victims as well, stroke victims as well, traumatic brain injury patients, and the list goes on. Till we do, Americans we are accepting inferior care and status quo from the medical field.
Posted on Mon, Jun. 03, 2002
Oxygen treatment ordered for boy, 2, in coma
BY ANDREA ELLIOTT
Bob Eighmie / Herald Staff : Jeffrey and Judy Weiss speak to reporters Monday at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.
Jeffrey and Judy Weiss wanted one more chance to save their son's life.
They won that chance -- a slim one -- Monday as 2-year-old Justin lay in a coma after almost drowning in Parkland over Memorial Day weekend.
Broward Circuit Judge John A. Miller ordered the North Broward Hospital District to allow an outside doctor to give Justin an alternative, costly treatment using a portable oxygen chamber.
''This means that our son has a chance at life,'' said Jeffrey Weiss, 49, an eye doctor who performs retina surgery at two of the district's hospitals. ``Their choice was to give our son death.''
Attorneys for the district argued against the motion, saying Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale was not licensed to administer hyperbaric oxygen treatments and that the portable chamber posed a fire hazard.
''They asked the hospital to perform unlicensed procedures that could jeopardize the hospital,'' said hospital district attorney Reid A. Cocalis, of Conrad & Scherer. Cocalis said he did not know whether the district would appeal the ruling.
The couple began crying and said, ''Thank you, thank you,'' when Miller issued the ruling.
''He's my only boy,'' said Weiss, who also has twin girls.
Miller ordered the family's attorney, Kenneth J. Sobel, to submit an installation plan for the portable chamber to the fire marshal before treatments begin. That could happen by Wednesday.
Each hour that passes could make a difference in the treatment's effectiveness, Dr. Richard Neubauer, who runs a hyperbaric center in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, told the judge.
Neubauer's patients are placed in an eight-by-three-foot tank and administered pure, pressurized oxygen, which can hasten the recovery of injured tissues, he said.
He offers no promises but said amazing recoveries have occurred, including that of a child who was in a state similar to Justin's but who eventually made a full recovery.
The family said Justin must receive the treatments at the hospital because his condition makes transporting him elsewhere too dangerous.
The Weisses agreed to assume the full cost and any liability for the treatments.
The Weisses were entertaining guests May 26 when Justin disappeared for five minutes. His father found him in the swimming pool, Sobel said.
''We had screens and alarms and everything . . .'' Weiss' voice trailed off as his eyes filled with tears.
He said doctors at Broward General Medical Center told the Weisses on Thursday that they should discontinue the machinery keeping Justin alive because his vegetative condition had not improved.
''I feel very good that at least my son is given a chance,'' said Judy Weiss after Monday's ruling. ``They're not going to take my hope away.''
Follow UP---Justin Weiss survived, was taken off the ventilator much to the amazement of the nursing staff. And subsequently returned home where he is continuing to improve with Physical therapy as well as Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment.
The Weiss's could afford what the majority of folks can't because Medicaid and insurance companies to date are not reimbursing for this life changing therapy.
It is readily apparent that the above scenario is exactly what Mr. Schiavo fears most, IMO.