[FairOpinion]

Please go to original link, where you can link to supporting info from links embedded in the text, which I couldn't duplicate by the simple cut and paste of the text.

[harpo11]

"In some respects the “persistent vegetative
state” is more a political than a medical diagnosis,
as it allows its unfortunate victims to lose their right
to life and be medically killed through withholding
food and water. It is unfortunate
that some of the experts on the side of the Culture of Death
seem to have had the upper hand in Terri’s fight,
and have been portrayed by the media as
reasonable and responsible members of the medical
profession, rather than the zealots which,
in fact, some of their own medical colleagues have branded them."

This paragraph, IMV, is a magnificent summation of the hidious perfidious downward spiral the death zealots and MSM have taken our country.

Terri Schiavo's brutal torturous heinous murder is a result of the "politics of personal destruction" as much as it was explained in medical terms, it is still political.

[harpo11]

Warning: No Not Give This Man,,
ghoul, Ronald Cranford,
Access to Your Infirm Loved One.

[tertiary01]

I have seen patients time after time outperforming the RADIOLOGISTS AND PHYSICIANS INTERPRETATION of their CAT scans.

This article seems to mirror the practice of most of the physicians I have worked with, in stating that PVS is subjective. In fact many physicians will not even use it as a diagnosis.

I knew an elderly patient, who walked (or shuffled) unaided especially to meals in a dining room without a reminder, talked in mumbled but purposeful fashion, was generally kind and cooperative. After he died an autospy revealed a brain so traumatized and distorted that his physician remarked that even his ability to be in a conscious state was a miracle. Yet he functioned with just moderate assistance for many years.

[Ol' Sparky]

A doctor interviewd on A&E claimed he had rehabilitated patients that had worse CAT scans than Terri's.

A greedy husband, a lawyer obsessed with death and either a corrupt or incompetent judge helped execute an innocent, disabled women.

[snarkytart]

>>>>In fact, the entire field of diagnosing “persistent vegetative state” or “PVS” is fraught with inaccuracy. Recent studies have shown the rate of misdiagnosis to be as high as 37% or even 43%. PVS is a clinical diagnosis, meaning that it depends on the subjective judgment of the examining physician. Experts in the field cannot even agree on the usefulness of diagnostic imaging.

Dr. Ronald Cranford himself was upset about the articles showing the inaccuracy of diagnosis and prognostication about PVS. Childs and Mercer, authors of one of the studies citing the difficulties of diagnosing PVS, took Cranford to task for “zealously” promoting the concept of the "permanent vegetative state" despite the evidence of its problematic nature, and the regularity with which some patients recover from it.<<<<<<<<<<


It is stunning but true.
I saw Dr.Ben Carlson from Hopkins on TV talkingabouthte high error rate when diagnosing PVS.

People around here wanted to nit pick at a doctor over some Nobel Prize comment but could never prove he was incompetent as a medial doctor, all because he supported Terri's parents.
On the other hand, we have documented cases where this Kranford guy was dreadfully wrong. He is a zealot.
A euthanasia enthusiast and he lets that guide his medical diagnosis. Kranford is one of those doctors who goes around the country diagnosing everyone he sees with PVS, he is a hired gun in cases. everyone knows what he will say. All the people he sees are not even his patients. He spends very little time with them and yet he is allowed to be taken serious with his diagnosis. Scary!!

This is sad all the way around.

[the invisib1e hand]

In Honor of Terri Schiavo.

Please let load -- it's 11 mb.

Have headphones or sound on.

[iconoclast]

bump

[supercat]

In some respects the “persistent vegetative state” is more a political than a medical diagnosis, as it allows its unfortunate victims to lose their right to life and be medically killed through withholding food and water

When used honestly, before it became a death sentence, the term "persistent vegetative state" meant nothing more nor less than that no demonstrable cognitive response had been discovered. It did not mean that none exists--merely that if any such response did exist it had not yet been discovered and identified. In that sense, the term was similar to "UFO".

One of the difficulties with establishing the meaningfulness of a PVS diagnosis is that someone who isn't looking very hard for signs of cognition isn't apt to find them. Given that some people drift in and out of states where they are largely unconcious, the notion that a single 45-minute exam could suffice to show that there are no signs of congition at all is ludicrious.

To use a Greerlogic analogy, suppose five police officers search a vehicle for drugs. Three of them, two of whom are open advocates of drug legalization, find nothing. The other two find drugs. Should the fact that the majority of the cops found nothing be taken as clear and compelling evidence that there weren't any drugs in the vehicle?

[Siobhan]

Giant BUMP

[SupplySider]

Thanks for posting.

I've often thought that the word "vegetative" is a disrespectful way to refer to a human being. I don't use the term.

Why not use something less loaded like "severely brain damaged and non-responsive state"? Perhaps because the word "vegetative" allows interested parties to pass over such issues as responsiveness and consciousness.

[danmar]

A physician at a credible physicians’ website has analyzed Terri’s CAT scan and concludes that it has been grossly misrepresented. There is some cerebral atrophy, but it is a completely inaccurate to characterize it as “bag of water.” Furthermore, the author states that “the most alarming thing about this image, however, is that there certainly is cortex left. Granted, it is severely thinned, especially for Terri's age, but I would be nonplussed if you told me that this was a 75 year old female who was somewhat senile but fully functional, and I defy a radiologist anywhere to contest that.”

A credible physician at a credible physician web site, ...

Would you care to expand on that?

[sruleoflaw]

Thank you for posting this article. It is excellent.

[BykrBayb]

This appears to be the most informative site I've seen yet. I've bookmarked it, so I can refer back to it often. Thanks so much for posting it.