[extropy-chat] (no subject)

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal at smigrodzki.org> wrote:
> Quoting Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com>:
> 
> >
> > What is empty and baseless is the assertion that Terri is brain
> dead,
> > in a coma, or a vegetable, all characterizations only of her
> husbands
> > lawyers and their hand picked and paid expert medical witnesses
> (who
> > will say whatever you want for the right fee).
> 
> ### See for example:
>
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0324brain-damaged-excerpts24-ON.html

>From your cited page:
Dr. William Hammesfahr, a Florida neurologist representing Terri
Schiavo's parents, who examined her under the appellate court order in
2002:

"In a PVS patient, a vegetative state patient, they will have maybe a
brief glance towards the area from that orienting reflex followed by
random eye movements in all different directions with no response, no
facial response, no attempting to fixate with her eyes. ... She is
absolutely responding to her mother. ... There's no doubt. She is
definitely aware of her mother....

"She is communicating already. She is communicating through following
instructions. She is communicating through gaze preferences towards
people. ...She has the ability of language.

"No, she is not in a persistent vegetative state. ... She is severely
injured. She was a medical survivor to another physician. I would say
that she is expressively aphasic, that means she has lost the power to
speak. ...She clearly understands some things. She is like spinal cord
victim Christopher Reeves."

---

Dr. William Maxfield, a radiologist retained by Terri Schiavo's
parents, who reviewed her brain scans and visited with her at least
three times, said he did not think she was in a persistent vegetative
state. He compared scans that were done in 1996 to pictures taken in
the summer of 2002:

"The brain tissue on the '02 study has a more normal appearance than it
did on the 1996 study. ... There can be some regeneration of brain
tissue."

Asked if that meant she had more brain in 2002 than in 1996: "I
wouldn't put it in terms of actually more brain. I would say that the
brain that we see is more normal in pattern than on the '96 study. ...
In looking at the brain we do not have any large areas of absent
localization which would indicate total non-function or, and/or,
absence of blood flow to that area.

"In my opinion, there's a significant probability that she would
improve with hyperbaric oxygen therapy based on what I have seen in the
CT of the brain, the SPECT scan, and my observation and examination of
the patient."

> 
> Mike, I have the impression you have used some big words ("brain
> dead", "coma") without first checking what they mean. Schiavo is not
> brain dead, and nobody claimed that. She is not in a coma. If you
> knew the meaning of these
> words, you wouldn't have used them (all you need is one look at the
> her photo).
> As all court-appointed physicians agree, she is in PVS.

Which court appointed physicians are these? There are four representing
her husband, and two representing her parents.


Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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