Free Republic

Can Ambien Wake Up PVS Patients? The Guardian gives credence to a case report concerning three patients purportedly diagnosed in PVS for more than three years who were "aroused transiently every morning after zolpidem," a sleeping pill. That would be Ambien. The report, by Clauss and Nel, of Royal Surrey County Hospital and of Family Practice of Pollack Park South Africa, was published in this month's issue of Neurorehabilitation. There are 26 million annual prescriptions for Ambien, most of which are probably not to patients in a persistent vegetative state. Recall that Ambien is oft reported to cause odd behavior...

SPRINGS, South Africa, May 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – South African researchers have discovered a medication that temporarily arouses patients from a permanent vegetative state.Scientists Ralf Clauss, now practicing nuclear medicine in the UK, and Wally Nel, in family practice in South Africa, found that Zolpidem, an insomnia drug, effectively restored consciousness to three individuals who were all in permanent vegetative states for at least three years before commencing the trial. After administering the drug, which the doctors have been doing every morning for three years, the three individuals all “wake up” to varying degrees, answer simple questions and engage...

The case of Teri Schiavo garnered a massive amount of national attention. Opinions varied across the country and across the political spectrum. I was one who was torn: I could not conceive of allowing my family to go through the pain and emotional conflict that would accompany caring for me in such a state. Neither could I conceive of ending care for someone such as my wife were the decision left in my hands regarding her fate. If even the slightest glimmer of hope remains available I cannot forsee 'letting her go'. Today I had the pleasure of sitting down...

Schiavo Autopsy Leaves Most Important Questions Unanswered For more information: Diane Coleman or Stephen Drake (708) 209-1500 exts. 11 & 29 708-420-0539 (cell) Forest Park, IL, June 15, 2005 -- Today's release of findings in the autopsy of Terri Schiavo leave the central issues in her life and death unanswered, says a national disability rights group. For example, contrary to articles stating the autopsy report "supported" the diagnosis of "persistent vegetative state (PVS)," a neuropathology expert today was careful to say that PVS is a clinical diagnosis rather than a pathological one. He added that nothing in the autopsy was...

http://www.aish.com/spirituality/odysseys/Carrots_Dont_Cry.asp Carrots Don't Cry by Rachel Ginsberg Doctors said that Marsi Tabak would remain in a persistent vegetative state for the rest of her life. With tireless dedication and a warehouse of faith, her husband proved them wrong. "True redemption is the freedom from preconceived notions and breaking out of the bonds of hopelessness, knowing that the Almighty is with you and making miracles for you all the time," says Dr. Yacov Tabak. He should know. Seven years ago his wife, Marsi, suffered prolonged oxygen deprivation after a heart attack and was given a grim diagnosis: persistent vegetative state (PVS)....

‘It’s amazing, isn’t it?’ Tracy Gaskill shows major signs of recovery after critical accident in 2002 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By FOSS FARRAR, Arkansas City Traveler For nearly three years, Don and Stella Gaskill had hoped their severely injured granddaughter would talk again. Just recently, their prayers were answered. On Sept. 3, 2002, Tracy Gaskill suffered critical internal and head injuries when her pickup overturned on its top. Doctors told her relatives that night that she probably would die by noon the next day, Don Gaskill said this morning. “That accident scared us to death,” said Gaskill, who lives in rural Winfield. Tracy...

Doctor prescribed drug cocktail to stimulate man's brain May 5, 2005 BY CAROLYN THOMPSON BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A brain-injured firefighter who started speaking after almost a decade of near-total silence has had moments of clarity but nothing as dramatic as that first long conversation Saturday, his wife said Wednesday. But she and his doctor remain hopeful. Don Herbert's startling improvment came three months after his medication was changed. Herbert, who will turn 44 Saturday, went without oxygen for several minutes after being trapped under a collapsed roof while fighting a house fire in December 1995. He spent 2-1/2 months in...

RUSH: I have to read you an e-mail that I got last night in the main e-mail account, Rush@eibnet.com. Hello, Rush, my name is Patrick Britzalaro. I am currently a battalion chief with the Buffalo fire department and up until April of 2003 I was the safety battalion chief for the Buffalo fire department. I'm very familiar with the fire that Don Herbert was severely injured in. I can tell you that firefighter Herbert was literally buried alive with hundreds of pounds of roofing debris when the flaming roof gave away. In addition to this, firefighter Herbert's only air supply,...

A husband accused of the attempted murder of his wife, who now lies in a coma, has argued that turning off her life support would go against her religious beliefs. Joe Korp was charged after his wife Maria was found left for dead in the boot of her car in Melbourne on February 13. She has been in a coma in The Alfred hospital ever since. If Mrs Korp's life support is removed and she dies, charges against her husband could be upgraded to murder. But yesterday a lawyer for Joe Korp told a tribunal that Maria Korp was a...

Timing is everything, and many in Western Springs are wondering why the suburb approved the clearing of about 45 oak trees at a golf course -- some of them 200 years old -- just three days after the village president lost his seat to a supporter of a group trying to block development on the course until its soil can be tested for contamination.Newly elected Village President Jack Lynch, who defeated John Kravcik on Tuesday, said he welcomes the construction of a 338-home development at the Timber Trails golf course. But when the property was annexed by the village three...

”For MEDICAL and LEGAL purposes, partial brain “impairment,” MUST be distinguished from complete and irreversible loss of brain functions or “WHOLE BRAIN DEATH.”

Countering "The Right to Die" The following excerpts are from Attorney James Bopp's keynote address to the Christian Life Resources convention on October 14, 1989. His points are still worthy of the reader's consideration. More than a majority of the states in the United States have had what we call the "right to die" cases -- cases brought where a third party is trying to cause the death of another, usually by court ordered starvation and dehydration of the patient. These patients are [normally] ones that have suffered some injury or illness that has resulted in them having a diminished...

I'm sick and tired of all the whining and flailing about! I just can't take it anymore! You wanted it, fine - here's MY opus:

Terri Schiavo is not the first innocent victim of murder sanctioned by judicial fiat, although the heroic efforts of her parents alerted the world about her heartbreaking death sentence. Almost four decades ago, the fallacious concept of "brain death" was introduced to pry open the legal doors to the killing of another group of unnoticed innocents — people who agree to donate their vital organs at death. People are encouraged to consent in writing to allow another person to benefit from their vital organs, such as the heart or liver, after they die. Potential donors overcome their discomfort about the...

Marylander Kept Alive For Nearly 20 Years Through Feeding Tube BALTIMORE -- A Maryland case involving eerily similar circumstances to the case of Florida's Terri Schiavo led to changes in state laws. Ronald Mack was kept alive for nearly 20 years through a feeding tube. As in the Schiavo case, his spouse fought to let him die while his family fought to keep him alive, WBAL-TV 11 News reporter Kate Amara reported. Mack was newly married: a healthy, athletic father of two. But just after getting out of boot camp in 1983, the 20-year-old was involved in a car accident,...

Top Neurologist's Report on Terri Released NewsMax.com Wires Wednesday, March 30, 2005 Here is a comprehensive report by Dr. William Hammesfahr, a world-reknowned neurologist, on Terri Schiavo's condition as of September 12, 2002: Re: Terri Schiavo Story Continues Below I was asked to examine Terri Schiavo per the request of the Second District Court of Appeal. They requested that current information about her present medical condition be obtained. They also requested that an evaluation be performed to ascertain treatment options. HPI: Ms Schiavo was in her usual state of good health until 2/25/90, when her husband reported that he was...

The diagnosis of the permanent vegetative state is primarily clinical, with repeated neurological examination necessary over a period of time to establish absence of cognitive functions and irreversibility. Laboratory studies may be useful and confirmatory in some cases. For example, EEGs will show severe background slowing. When monitored over a few years, CT scans and MRIs will show progressive cerebral cortical atrophy. While the degree of cerebral cortical atrophy does not necessarily correlate with the complete loss of cerebral cortical functions, it does, however, help to confirm that the underlying process, given the severity of destruction seen on these neuroimaging...

<p>I watch nourishment flowing into a slim tube that runs through a neat, round, surgically created orifice in Ms Schiavo's abdomen, and I'm almost envious. What effortless intake! Due to a congenital neuro-muscular disease, I am having trouble swallowing, and it's a constant struggle to get by mouth the calories my skinny body needs. For whatever reason, I'm still trying, but I know a tube is in my future. So, possibly, is speechlessness. That's a scary thought. If I couldn't speak for myself, would I want to die? If I become uncommunicative, a passive object of other people's care, should I hope my brain goes soft and leaves me in peace?</p>

A federally funded watchdog group is investigating the recent deaths of four disabled Floridians amid an aggressive campaign by the state to cut millions of dollars from programs that provide medical care for disabled people in community settings. Saturday, March 26, 2005 (Herald.com)

First, this case has boiled down to Michael Schiavo's testimony that it was Terri Schiavo's wish not to be put on life-prolonging technologies, including feeding tubes. He and his attorney said Terri made it clear years ago that she would not want to live in such a condition -- even though she never made a living will. They said she once made the comment to her best friend after seeing a movie in which a character was in such a state. "She said, 'No tubes for me,' " Michael Schiavo said. Her feeding tube was inserted on February 25, 1990....