Posted on 06/19/2005 6:04:50 PM PDT by wagglebee
Dr. William Hammesfahr, nominated for a Nobel Prize for his work in Medicine, has been recognized by agents for Medicare, the federal government, and others for new approaches to helping the brain injured.
Dr. Hammesfahr has been identified in helping patients with chronic brain injuries from many causes actually leave long term disability, and return to work.
Dr. Hammesfahr was identified the first physician to restore deficits caused by stroke.
Dr. Hammesfahr has released the following statement in response to the autopsy report on Terri Schindler Schiavo:
We have seen a lot on the autopsy of Terri Schindler Schiavo in recent days, that I feel needs to be addressed. To ignore these comments will allow future 'Terri Schiavo's' to die needlessly after the wishes of clinicians and family are ignored.
Considering that there were so many physicians and therapists who were willing to step forward to treat Terri Schiavo, from university based practitioners to those in private practice, it clearly shows that the mainstream medical community across the board, those involved in treating patients, knew that they could help Terri.
The record must be set straight. As we noted in the press, there was no heart attack, or evident reason for this to have happened (and certainly not of Terri's making).
Unlike the constant drumbeat from the husband, his attorneys, and his doctors, the brain tissue was not dissolved, with a head of just spinal fluid. In fact, large areas were "relatively preserved."
The purpose of the therapies offered by so many, from major universities, brain injury centers, and from private practice physicians, is to improve and restore quality of life, and function, which the mainstream medical community clearly tried to get to her.
I have had a chance to look at Dr. Nelson's analysis of the brain tissue, and essentially, as a clinician, these are my thoughts.
The autopsy results confirmed my opinion and Dr. Maxfield's opinions, that the frontal areas of the brains, the areas that deal with awareness and cognition were relatively intact. To use Dr. Nelson's words, "relatively preserved." In fact, the relay areas from the frontal and front temporal regions of the brain, to the spinal cord and the brain stem, by way of the basal ganglia, were preserved, thus the evident responses which she was able to express to her family and to the clinicians seeing her or viewing her videotape. The Spect scan confirmed these areas were functional and not scar tissue, and that was apparently also confirmed on Dr. Nelson's review of the slides. Dr. Maxfield's estimates of retained brain weight were apparently accurate, although there may have been some loss of brain weight due to the last two weeks of dehydration.
Dr. Maxfield and myself both emphasized that she was a woman trapped in her body, similar to a child with cerebral palsy, and that was born out by the autopsy, showing greater injury in the motor and visual centers of the brain. Obviously, the pathologists comments that she could not see were not borne out by reality, and thus his assessment must represent sampling error. The videotapes clearly showed her seeing, and even Dr. Cranfoed, for the husband, commented to her that, when she could see the balloon, she could follow it with her eyes as per his request.
That she could not swallow was obviously not borne out by the reality that she was swallowing her saliva, about 1.5 liters per day of liquid, and the clinical swallowing tests done by Dr. Young and Dr. Carpenter. Thus, there appears to be some limitations to the clinical accuracy of an autopsy in evaluating function.
With respect to the issue of trauma, that certainly does not appear to be answered adequately. Some of the types of trauma that are suspected were not adequately evaluated in this assessment. Interestingly, both myself and at least one neurologist for the husband testified to the presence of neck injuries. The issue of a forensic evaluation for trauma, is highly specialized. Hence the wish of the family to have observers which was refused by the examiner.
Ultimately, based on the clinical evidence and the autopsy results, an aware woman was killed.
s/Dr. W. Hammesfahr
[Dr. Hammesfahr was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1999. The Nomination was for work started in 1994. In 2000, this work resulted in approval for the first patent in history granted for the treatment of neurological diseases including coma, stroke, brain injury, cerebral palsy, hypoxic injuries and other neurovascular disorders with medications that restore blood flow to the brain. It was extended to treat successfully disabilities including ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, Tourette's and Autism as well as behaviorally and emotionally disturbed children, seizures and severe migraines.]
No one that has any knowledge of this case ever said anything about a "heart attack." People who have followed the evidence in this case, like court documents, Guardian Ad Litem documents, autopsy etc know that the emergency room doctors, the doctors involved in the law suit, and others believe Terri had cardiac arrest where the heart stops beating or doesnt beat in a coordinated way. A heart attack or MI is caused by an arterial blockage which prevents the flow of blood to the heart and results in damage to the heart muscle. The heart may continue to beat throughout a heart attack. Cardiac arrest is typically caused by chemical imbalance (low pottasium) and results in damage to the brain if the heart is not restarted within four to five minutes.
Actually, Dr Nelson, not Thogmartin, was very careful to state that a living brain is needed for a correct diagnosis. His statements start on Pg 17.
Just got an email press release from the creep Felos' office:
"SCHIAVO REMAINS INTERRED
DUNEDIN, FLORIDA, June 20, 2005--The remains of Theresa Marie Schiavo were interred today at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park in Clearwater, Florida. Mr. Schiavo, certain of his brothers, and a priest were present. Mrs. Schiavo's parents, as ordered by the court, have been advised of the exact location of Mrs. Schiavo's site."
I wonder what kind of priest was there.
A bunch of legal cover-up allowing state sponsored killing and it is not euthanasia? Yeah right.
Your Empire Journal-inspired paranoia is touching. I feel for ya, Clancy.
I have suggested you read the report of the last Doctor to diagnose Terri (Doctor Cheshire from the DCF), while she was alive eight days before her death.
He has yet to be called a quack and discredited by anyone, YET.
Thanks for your insights.
I'm glad to hear that the autopsy is conclusive and uncontroversial, with everybody in agreement. And I am doubly glad to find out that Schiavo's murder was entirely justified after all.
Regards,
LH
I thought Michael Schiavo was going to have Terri's remains dumped in Pennsylvania.
LOL (about what kind of priest it was). That was funny!
Fair enough. Do you know why the initial Cat scan immediately following the incident wouldn't show the damage but a later one would? Does it take time for that part of the brain to die? And if it does, does restoring oxygen stop further damage?
Terri was the apple of her father's eye.
"When her mom first introduced her to me, she stared at me intently. She focused her eyes. She would focus her eyes on whoever was talking to her. If somebody spoke to her from the other part of the room she would turn her head and her eyes towards the person who was talking to her.
You know what some of the doctors have dared to say about this? "Oh, it's just reflex reactions. Unconscious reflex reactions." Interestingly, that's exactly the same thing they say about the unborn child when you look at the video The Silent Scream when the child opens his mouth and tries to move away from the instrument that is about to destroy him. They say, "Oh, that's just an automatic reflex." That's the phrase they always use to dehumanize the person.
I told Terri she has many people around the country and around the world who lover her and are praying for her. She looked at me attentively. I said, "Terri now we are going to pray together, I want to give you a blessing, let's say some prayers." So I laid my hand on her head. She closed her eyes. I said the prayer. She opened her eyes again at the end of the prayer. Her dad leaned over to her and said, "OK Terri now here comes the tickle," because he has a mustache. She would laugh and smile and after he kissed her I saw her return the kiss. Her mom asked her a question at a certain point and I heard her voice. She was trying to respond. She was making sounds in response to her mother's question, not just at odd times and meaningless moments. I heard her trying to say something but she was not, because of her disability, able to articulate the words. So she was responsive."
According to the autopsy, I am sorry to say, Terri wasn't capable of what he wanted us to believe. I believe he stretched the truth.
"It did not. Dr Nelson was very careful in saying " PVS is a clinical diagnosis rather than a pathological one" and "nothing in the autopsy was "inconsistent" with a PVS diagnosis". ***In other words, you need a live brain for diagnosis, not a dead one."***
Did you point this out to Dr. Hammesfahr who appears to believe otherwise according to this news release?
Of course she was. That in no way invalidates the fact that Terri has been gone for a very, very long time. I feel sorry for Terri's parents and fully understand why they wouldn't accept that fact.
She didnt have a heart attack. She had cardiac arrest possibly caused by bulimia. Cardiac arrest caused by chemical imbalance. The physician that was successfully sued was a doctor at a fertility clinic that she was being treated by because he failed to notice her rapid weight loss and didnt do certain blood tests that she should have had that would have detected the problem.
Dr. Hammesfahr's a proven liar. Why would anyone take his claims seriously?
Not until Jeb Bush turn the burner on did Schiavo cough up the ashes.
Bulimia? That was thrown out as a theory long ago. Actually, the autopsy results open the door to a myriad of lawsuits by the Schindler's if they decide to go down that road, which I hope they do.
Turned.
Utter nonsense, Peach. Nice try though.
This is the biggest bunch of bullsh*t I've ever heard in my life! First of all, it wasn't "remains" it was ashes (which makes future examination impossible). Additionally, had the judge had an ounce of compassion, her parents should have been allowed at the interrment.
No, what it means is that we've seen all sorts of people enter that room and tell us that Terri could do things that she clearly could not do.
Including nurses who were later found to be such liars they should have been prosecuted.
So forgive me if I'll accept the words of nurses and doctors who actually testified under oath vs. someone who wanted their 15 minutes of fame on Fox News.
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