[MarMema]

Dr. Ronald Cranford, the euthanasia advocate who hopes to help Pete Busalacchi take care of Christine when she is brought to Minnesota, had a similar case in 1979. Sgt. David Mack was shot in the line of duty as a policeman, and Cranford diagnosed him as "definitely... in a persistent vegetative state...never [to] regain cognitive, sapient functioning...never [to] be aware of his condition." Twenty months after the shooting Mack woke up, and eventually regained nearly all his mental ability. When asked by a reporter how he felt, he spelled out on his letter board, "Speechless!"

Cranford jokingly refers to himself as “Dr. Death” and, for a fee, will come to a trial and testify that the person whose life the plaintiff wants to end is in a PVS. He was the leading medical voice calling for the deaths of Paul Brophy, Nancy Jobes, Nancy Cruzan, and Christine Busalucci, all of whom were brain-damaged but not dying. Nonetheless, he advocated death for all by dehydration/starvation, just as he has for Terri.

Cranford has testified that patients in a PVS have “no hope of recovery,” but this is simply untrue. A number of people found to be “unrecoverable” have, in fact, recovered. Cranford himself diagnosed Sergeant Richard Mack, a police officer shot in the line of duty, as “definitely...in a persistent vegetative state...never to regain cognitive, sapient functioning.” Almost two years later, Mack “woke up.” He eventually regained almost all his mental abilities.

[MarMema]

And after the PVS patients, and those with severe disabilities, the line will be extended to include those with depression.

Some years after Nancy Cruzan was killed by her family with dehydration, her father committed suicide.

"Minneapolis neurologist Ronald Cranford, a family friend and regular expert witness in favor of removing food and fluids in cases like Nancy's, said Joe had been chronically depressed for some time. According to Cranford, Joe was "an ordinary man with extraordinary abilities." "But he ran out of energy after [Nancy] died," Cranford said. Commenting on Joe's death by hanging, Cranford added that, in his opinion, Joe's was "a rational suicide" since "he was never going to get better." [American Medical News, 9/2/96:8]

[RS]

While searching for info on Cranford, I came across this, still digesting it .

"Most patients in PVS continue to breathe on their own, circulate blood normally, have periods of waking and sleeping, may move their limbs, smile, shed tears and respond to external stimuli. Some may grunt, groan or scream."

" These statistics show that a significant number of people recover from PVS within a year after injury. However, the chances of recovery are much lower after longer periods in PVS. Therefore, the MSTF concluded that PVS should be considered permanent 12 months after a traumatic injury, or three months after a nontraumatic injury. However, a few cases of dramatic recovery after extended periods are well documented. One patient recovered after three years in PVS, to the point of being alert and well-oriented."


http://www.xenos.org/ministries/crossroads/donal/pvs.htm