Free Republic

The history of human knowledge as it relates to the human body is a fascinating and terrible thing. In every age, the ability for physicians and other medical practitioners to effectively treat wounds or combat disease has been constrained by the technology – or lack thereof – available at the time. In the past, people often died from illnesses or injuries that are quite treatable today. Over the centuries, we’ve come a long way. Our understanding of human physiology and biology has enabled us to improve quality of life and extend life expectancy beyond anything our ancestors could have imagined.Despite...

In the 1980’s, 12-year-old Martin Pistorious became seriously ill with what doctor’s believed was Cryptococci Meningitis. His health started deteriorating and Martin lost his ability to move, make eye contact and even speak to others. His doctors told his parents, Rodney and Joan Pistorious, to bring him home and let him die. They told them he was as good as a vegetable.However, he didn’t die. Joan said, “Martin just kept going, just kept going.” According to NPR news, his father would get up at 5 o’clock in the morning, get him dressed, load him in the car, take him to...

Cases like this are fueling a growing debate about the accuracy of "vegetative state" and "brain death" diagnoses. airlift(Harlow, England) - Martin Pistorius hates Barney. And it's no wonder why. For 12 years, while he was in a coma that doctors described as a "vegetative state," nurses, thinking that he couldn't see or hear anything, played endless re-runs of Barney as he sat, strapped into his wheel chair. (Photo via Life Site News) But Martin wasn't the "vegetable" that doctors said he was. In fact, he could see and hear everything. "I cannot even express to you how much I...

Democratic Nebraska Senate candidate Dave Domina is out with a new political ad that features a bedridden coma patient decked out in one of the campaign’s T-shirts. The ad had raised questions about the ethics of using a coma patient to give the politician a boost in the polls. Domina, who is running against Republican challenger Ben Sasse, also has come under fire in recent weeks for his previous work defending a Nazi war criminal, whom Domina referred to as “honorable” in an interview with the Free Beacon. The ad in questions feature Pappillion, Nebraska resident Deborah Chinnow, and her daughter Jenna, who is...

The new research could help doctors to quickly identify patients who are aware despite appearing unresponsive and unable to communicate. Researchers from University of Cambridge in the UK have identified hidden networks in vegetative patients that could support consciousness, even when a patient appear to be unresponsive. There’s been a lot of interest lately into how much patients in vegetative states, such as comas, are aware of their surroundings. Recently, research involving functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning has shown that even patients who are unable to respond or move are able to carry out mental tasks, such as imagining...

At age 75, the legendary songwriter and beloved recording artist Gordon Lightfoot is still working hard and enjoying it more than ever. The creator of such standards as If You Could Read My Mind, Early Morning Rain, Carefree Highway and Sundown still performs upwards of eighty concerts a year in North America. "We love the work" is the joyful mantra his associates hear him say all the time. Even after waking up from a six-week coma following a burst abdominal artery in 2002, Gordon worked from his hospital bed and polished the final tracks for his twentieth album. It would...

"A West Point man was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries after he and a friend were attacked by a group of around 20 people in a Huddle House parking lot, police said, potentially as retaliation for Michael Brown's killing. Ralph Weems IV, who is white, was injured early Saturday but is now in fair condition at North Mississippi Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Genie Causey said. A relative, Bradley Barnes of Madison, told The Associated Press by telephone on Sunday that his brother-in-law was in a medically induced coma following brain surgery. 'They're going to try and wake him up...

LifeNews has repeatedly chronicled cases of people who were prematurely declared dead or said to be in supposedly persistent vegetative states who ultimately recovered. Now comes the story of Lexi Hansen, a BYU student who suffered critical head injuries last week after being hit by a car. Hansen, 18, was alert and breathing on her own Tuesday, though she was still listed in critical but stable condition. She even tried to get out of her hospital bed. While she has a long road to recovery ahead, her family believes they have witnessed a miracle. lexihansen“When they brought her in, the...

Adva Biton appeared in a military court on Thursday, bearing testimony against the suspects thought to have thrown the rock that critically wounded her three-year-old daughter Adelle last March. Adelle has yet to regain consciousness. Speaking at the court in Megiddo, Adva testified that although her daughter miraculously survived the direct-hit from the rock on her head while riding in the family car, she has not been able to make a full recovery from the horrific attack. "I have a girl but she doesn't communicate, as far as I'm concerned it's as if she's living while dead," said the stricken...

With their teenage son in a coma, a California family was willing to try anything to bring him back. And with a new type of treatment, their son has made a miraculous recovery — thanks to fish oil. Grant Virgin, now 17, of Palm Desert, Calif., was involved in a near-tragic car accident last September when an unidentified woman crashed into him and drove off — even after stopping to survey the damage, the Desert Sun reported. Virgin was in a coma and was in really bad shape.

Kim Kyong-hui in coma, says intelligence source Jan 09,2014 WASHINGTON - Kim Kyong-hui, aunt of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and wife of the purged and executed Jang Song-thaek, is in a vegetative state after undergoing brain surgery, a source told the JoongAng Ilbo. An intelligence official in the United States said on condition of anonymity yesterday that Kim Kyong-hui had surgery for a brain tumor in 2013 in Paris. After the surgery, she lost a lot of weight, dropping to 35 kilograms (77 pounds), the official said. The official denied some Korean reports alleging she committed suicide and maintained...

At least one in five patients declared brain dead and approved as organ donors by one organ donation organization, are in fact still alive and are being killed by the removal of vital organs, a lawsuit filed last week in Manhattan alleges. The suit outlines the ghoulish worst-case scenario, one that was widely dismissed as scaremongering in the early days of the development of organ transplant technology, but which is getting a second hearing amidst growing concerns that coercion and abuse are becoming increasingly common in the highly lucrative transplant business. Patrick McMahon, a nurse practitioner and Air Force combat...

TWO Mormons on the Gold Coast for a church camp stand accused of a shocking attack that left a passing stranger in a coma.Amanaki Kaufusi, 21, and Onesi Taufui, 18, yesterday faced Southport Magistrates Court charged with grievous bodily harm over a violent attack on a tourist in Surfers Paradise. Hundreds of Mormons have gathered on the Gold Coast for a Latter-day Saints conference at Tallebudgera. But as their friends listened to the teachings of church leaders, Kaufusi and Taufui, both from western Sydney, headed to the bright lights of Sin City for a night on the town. The court...

A patient in a seemingly vegetative state, unable to move or speak, showed signs of attentive awareness that had not been detected before, a new study reveals. This patient was able to focus on words signalled by the experimenters as auditory targets as successfully as healthy individuals. If this ability can be developed consistently in certain patients who are vegetative, it could open the door to specialised devices in the future and enable them to interact with the outside world. The research, by scientists at the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (MRC CBSU) and the University of...

A man who had appeared to have been in a vegetative state for 12 years knew his name and knew where he was, Canadian researchers report in a study showing it’s possible to use MRI brain scans to establish communication with people who seem completely unconscious. Three people tested using a special form of MRI called functional magnetic resonance imaging were able to answer simple “yes” or “no” questions, the team at Western University in London, Ontario report. They say their findings don’t mean everyone in a coma or a persistent vegetative state is conscious, but it should help doctors...

A St. Paul, Minn., man is in a coma today, fighting for his life after a black mob beat him, stripped his clothes off and left him for dead. Even if he recovers, he will have permanent brain damage. Ads by Google Ray Widstrand thought he had nothing to fear from moving into a black neighborhood on the East Side of St. Paul. This young white guy and aspiring filmmaker thought he had nothing to fear when decided to take a Sunday night stroll through his adopted part of town. Nothing to fear from a crowd of 50 black people...

Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel whose last claim to fame was his expulsion of some 10,000 Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and northern Samaria, is still in a coma, as he has been since 2005. But recent medical treatments show that there is activity in Sharon's brain – specifically when it comes to recognizing photos of family members. Sharon was recently examined by experts at Ben Gurion University and Soroka Hospital, where he underwent an MRI scan, Voice of Israel public radio reported. .....

The battle to protect patients in a so-called vegetative state from euthanasia took a positive turn today with the news that doctors have been able to communicate with one patient. A Canadian man who was believed to have been in a persistent vegetative state for more than a decade has been able to communicate with scientists that he is not in any pain. It’s the first time an uncommunicative brain-injured patient has been able to communicate. The news could change the way doctors and society views such patients. From the story: Scott Routley, 39, was asked questions while having his...

...boy recovers completely Although a team of four physicians insisted that his son was “brain-dead” following the wreck, Thorpe’s father enlisted the help of a general practitioner and a neurologist, who demonstrated that his son still had brain wave activity. The doctors agreed to bring him out of the coma, and five weeks later Thorpe left the hospital, having almost completely recovered.

Rush Limbaugh has said that the October surprise of 2008 was the ultimate in pre-election boondoggles and chicanery. I mean, what could possibly top it? Anything? Anything at all? Maybe this. It's the last week of October. Obama is down 10 points to Romney. This calls for desperate measures - the October surprise of all surprises. Special Bulletin: President Obama has suddenly and unexpectedly fallen into a coma! The whole nation mourns for Moochelle and senior staffers, Malia, Sasha, and Bo. Occupy Wall Streeters have dropped their Molotov cocktails and are holding solemn candlelight vigils. With the president in a...