She most certainly did not have brain activity.
She has had multiple EEGs, the latest in 2002, and all were consistent with PVS - the report stated "no recognizable cerebral activity" even upon inducing painful stimuli.
Patients who show no signs of consciousness after their eyes open usually fit the criteria for the vegetative state(VS). Persistent vegetative state (PVS) is a prognostic term that refers to a chronic condition in which basic arousal (i.e., wakefulness) and life-sustaining functions (e.g., respiration, blood pressure) are generally intact, despite the absence of behavioral signs of meaningful interaction with the environment. The American Academy of Neurology recently adopted the position that the VS should be termed "persistent" at 1 month, and considered "permanent" after 3 months following non traumatic causes of unconsciousness and after 12 months following traumatic injury [27]. However, rare exceptions to this have been cited. Merck
The longest documented is 3 years.
Here's another "Veggie" for ya ....dude....you would have a field day pronouncing death on people in limited cognitive ability.
Would you like to see others that you and your doctor friends can send to "h@ll" by your own hands?There must be thousands of them that 50% of MDs could call "veggies".
Forget Me Not
Our problems are many & varied, our struggles are always uphill... I'm speaking for hundreds of children, so listen awhile if you will...
I want understanding- not pity, I wish you could treat me the same...
You wouldn't ignore the other children, at least you would ask them their name...
I know I can't answer to tell you, my face may seem empty & dead.... My body is twisted- but I AM alive, and there ARE thoughts in my head...
I will not be shut out from the world, I am a child & it is my right....
I'm not an object of pity- to be hidden away out of sight....
My parents see me through eyes of love, and not as others do.... They see the things I can achieve & I wish that you would too.......
As I ask you to Forget-Me-Not, I beg you to hear my plea...
If I could speak I would ask you.... to please look closer & see me.
Author/source unknown Here's another one..if the parents had listened to you and their doctors she would be a mummy right now.
Heather was born in October 1986. She wasn't due until November. However a ultrasound showed there was no amniotic fluid and a emergency c section was done. As soon as the cord was cut there was lung shock and affixation. She was given CPR for the first 15 minutes of her life. She was given a 25% chance of survival. I knew in my heart that since she was born alive she would make it. We were never told that there would be any chance of disabilities. At six months she started having seizures (infantile spasms).
Our pediatrician laughed at me and said they were seizures and scheduled a EEG for two weeks. Needless to say we weren't happy with him and found another Dr within an hour and she was admitted into the hospital within two hours from that.
We were real lucky with the medications. They put her on Phenobarbital and the seizures were under control within a week. They said she would be on the meds until she was at least 3, probably 5. She was off them within 18 months and has been seizure free since.
Again, there was no mention of any disabilities.
At 7 mths a visiting nurse recommended therapy because she was not doing age appropriate things. Than a friend asked if she had cp. I said I think someone would have mentioned it, but I'll ask. At therapy I asked and was told she had too much muscle tone and that was it. At the next appointment we had to see a CCS doctor.
As soon as I walked in the door she said, "Oh, your daughter does have Cerebral Palsy, always has and always will, she will never walk, she will be severally retarded and she will sit in a wheelchair and drool, now this is how I want you to stretch her legs". Needless to say I was in shock.
After I left I called her Pediatrician and asked what this woman was talking about. We went in and all was finally explained to us.
Her diagnoses is Spastic Quad, visually impaired (legally blind), developmentally delayed and seizure disorder. I then went out to get as much information as possible and continue to do so to this day. She had a Selective dorsal Rhizotomy at age 3 and has has 3 hip surgeries for a dislocated right hip.
With the help of a very supportive family and an awful lot of determination Heather has and continues to defy the doctors, therapist and medical profession in general with her abilities and her progress.
She has had multiple EEGs, the latest in 2002, and all were consistent with PVS - the report stated "no recognizable cerebral activity" even upon inducing painful stimuli. The EEGs were described as "flatline". Given that the patient had some level of brain function (as evidenced by the fact that the brain had been keeping the body systems functioning for years), the "flat" EEG constitutes proof positive of one of three things:
- The patient adminstering the test was incompetant and failed to realize that it should be redone.
- The person administering the test was not interested in accurate results.
- The person administering the test was overruled in his desire to have the test redone, by someone who was not interested in accurate results.
If a doctor taking a blood pressure reading can't find a pulse, he shouldn't call code or start adminstering CPR on a patient whose heart is obviously beating find. Whether or not Terri had much cognitive activity, the clinical behavior exhibited on the videos, plus the fact that she survived for years, is absolutely 100% inconsistent with a "flatline" EEG.