Include Gov Bush's review team in there also.
"There’s actually a long list of people responsible for removing her feeding tubes. "
The list includes numerous folks with considerable medical expertise, none of whom could be effectively refuted.
"But Terri is not on that list."
Her husband testified to what Terri thought about the matter. Husbands and wives generally do know what each other thinks about that. The husband dialed 911, showed considerable concern and love for his wife and was found to be blameless in the matter by both the med folks involved and the law. The husbands testimony in the matter was heard and the testimony of Terri's family was heard. The husband's testimony was believed. THe important part to note is that Terri had no hope of improving, and that's what the whole thing centered on.
"The fact that Terri responded several times, as shown on the hours of video tape, proves that she was not PVS."
There are no hours of video tape. there are a few mins of edited tape and a failure to provide info reguarding over 10 years of no response. That includes to the implanted sitmulators. The tapes themselves show no response, especially after the coroner's found she was blind.
"So even it was coincidental that her purposeful facial expression followed the command to make that exact facial expression, it still proves she wasn’t PVS."
When one fails to give the full results that were obtained from an exam like this, which lasted at least 45mins, and only presents the rare actions that appear to be responses, it's called fraud. That's all I see, fraud.
"There was never any dispute about her blindness. It had already been documented that her vision was reduced to a level of legal blindness. ... The video of her tracking the balloon shows that she had some vision."
She was blind and could not follow the balloon. From pg 8 of the autopsy report:
"Of particular importance was the hypoxic damage and neuronal loss in her occipital lobes, which indicates cortical blindness."
" it still proves she wasn’t PVS."
The neurologists made that conclusion, because she showed NO RESPONSE.
"The doctors who examined her all agreed that she had some vision. Even the doctors who later provided their assistance in killing her agreed she had some eyesight."
No response means, NO RESPONSE. Again, from page 8 of the autopsy report:
""Of particular importance was the hypoxic damage and neuronal loss in her occipital lobes, which indicates cortical blindness."
Ron Cranford has Died, by Wesley J. Smith
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Ron Cranford has Died
Ronald Cranford, the neurologist and bioethicist who made something of a career testifying on behalf of dehydrating the cognitively disabled, has died. He had kidney cancer, and I assume that this was the cause of his death.
I disagreed vehemently with Dr. Cranford. I saw him testify in the Robert Wendland case and his cool recounting of the process of dehydration chilled me to my bones, as did his ready admission that he had removed sustenance from people who were clearly conscious. I actually think that testimony was the primary reason the court refused to allow Wendland's tube sustenance to be stopped. And his examination of Terri Schiavo seemed conducted in such a hurried way that she would be unlikely to respond.
We met only once at a debate about Terri Schiavo in Florida. We were pleasant and civil to each other. Nothing more.
What is the proper response to the death of someone who has been an implacable adversary? I think it is the response we should have to the death of every human being. We should set those old disputes aside and hope that in the Great Beyond, he finds forgiveness and peace.
posted by Wesley J. Smith at 8:33 AM
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(BykrBayb, you should have been pinged to my previous post [#105]. My apologies.)