We need to get into some facts on this Terri thing. I know I did before I can make any informed opinions.
Here is some rumor control.
The short is regarding "that bastard is trying to kill her and never did anything to help her" DID spend three years as well as above and beyond experimental therapy to try and get his wife back. That most of her brain is literally mush.
The short also is - if someone close to you falls victim to such an awful situation, the best thing to do is shake them off and wish them the best. To do otherwise means you will be paraded around the internet and TV as an attempted murderer. That you will be presented as cold and uncaring even though you spent 15 years trying to get her back. That your name will be dragged through the mud by the emotional ignorant people who believe anything based on little information.
The long is:
Q: What is a "persistent vegetative state" and how is it diagnosed? Is it unusual for doctors to disagree?
A: People in a persistent vegetative state have lost all higher brain function, including the ability to think, experience emotions and understand the world around them. However, they continue to sleep and wake; open their eyes; breathe on the their own; and even make noises and facial expressions.
This is because their brain stems - the portion of the brain that controls basic functions such as heartbeat and breathing - continue to function.
Those suffering from this condition do not track objects with their eyes, blink on command or respond consistently to cues in the environment. When a patient fails tests over a period of time, doctors consider the condition "persistent".
There is no single test, such as a brain scan, that can peer inside the brain and absolutely determine a person's level of mental function. But doctors can diagnose the condition by testing a patient's ability to interact with his or her environment.
Doctors who have been appointed by Terri Schiavo's husband and the courts have determined that she is in a persistent vegetative state with no chance of recovery. Her parents and their physicians do not agree, maintaining that she is not vegetative and can recover.
Doctors who examine the same patient can reach different conclusions, but time is the best arbiter of diverging views, said Dr. Michael Pulley, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Florida campus in Jacksonville.
"The way to resolve it is to see if there is any change (in the patient's ability to interact) over time," Pulley said, adding that improvements would be expected within the first weeks or months of the injury.
Terri Schiavo has been in this state for 15 years.
Q: Terri Schiavo appears to respond to her mother in a video released by the family. Her father said that she smiled Monday when he told her that her feeding tube soon could be re-inserted. Doesn't this show that she is not in a persistent vegetative state?
A: Terri Schiavo's parents say this is evidence that she is not in a vegetative state.
But court-appointed physicians have not been able to document a consistent, predictable response from Terri that would indicate she is aware of her surroundings.
Q: Isn't there new technology that could provide more insight into Terri's condition?
A: There is a device called functional magnetic resonance imaging - or fMRI - that tracks blood flow to regions of the brain while a person is performing certain tasks. Doctors say this can be used to get more information about a person's brain function, but it is not a conclusive test.
Terri Schiavo has undergone a series of diagnostic tests in the past, including such procedures as CT scans and EEGs, which showed her brain's electrical function to be flat, court records show. The outcome of those tests supports the diagnosis of "persistent vegetative state."
Brain scans show that the area of the brain responsible for higher thinking, the cerebral cortex, has suffered severe atrophy and has been replaced by liquid.
Q: Terri Schiavo's parents and a neurologist who examined her several years ago, Dr. William Hammesfahr, say the woman could get better with therapy. Would she be helped by rehabilitation?
A: Other doctors have concluded that she will not improve with rehabilitation, and previous attempts with therapy had no effect.
Terri underwent more than three years of rehabilitative therapy after her collapse in 1990, and her husband took her to a California center in late 1990 to have an experimental device implanted in her brain in hopes of stimulating activity.
According to a court-appointed guardian who reviewed the medical information for Terri's case in 2003, there is no reason to believe that she can recover.
Jay Wolfson, who reported to the court in December 2003, wrote: "In recent months, individuals have come forward indicating that therapies and treatments can literally regrow Theresa's brain tissue, restoring all or part of her functions. There is no scientifically valid, medically recognized evidence that this has been done or is possible, even in rats."
etc.
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