Posted on 03/31/2005 3:15:15 PM PST by w6ai5q37b
I don't believe the majority of Americans support a Governor acting like a King.
I agree and support you on that.
We don't know if Terri said that or not.
I read Michael suddenly recalling that after he won the lawsuit and got the money.
I also read that Michael testified under oath that if th got enough money he would become a nurse and take care of Terri for the rest of her life.
That proved to be at best a lie and at worst perjury.
After he received his money, he started trying to kill her.
The government ought not be involved in it.......
If you don't like it, write to your legislator and tell them that no one should be allowed to die.
That husband or wife ought not be guardian. Only parent or sibling allowed to decide.
This is for anyone who can answer it. I just want to get to the bottom of this particular question.From www.nationalreview.com:I heard that Terri never had an MRI...
...BAD MEDICINE
And, quite apart from the question of Terri’s therapy and care, it is entirely likely that Terri has never been properly diagnosed. Terri is usually described as being in a Persistent Vegetative State (PVS), and indeed Judge Greer ruled as a finding of fact that she is PVS; but this diagnosis and finding were arrived at in a way that has many neurologists expressing surprise and dismay.
I have spent the past ten days recruiting and interviewing neurologists who are willing to come forward and offer affidavits or declarations concerning new testing and examinations for Terri. In addition to the 15 neurologists’ affidavits Gibbs had in time to present in court, I have commitments from over 30 others who are willing to testify that Terri should have new and additional testing, and new examinations by unbiased neurologists. Almost 50 neurologists all say the same thing: Terri should be reevaluated, Terri should be reexamined, and there are grave doubts as to the accuracy of Terri’s diagnosis of PVS. All of these neurologists are board-certified; a number of them are fellows of the prestigious American Academy of Neurology; several are professors of neurology at major medical schools.
So how can Judge Greer ignore the opinions of so many qualified neurologists, some of whom are leaders in the field? The answer is that Michael Schiavo, his attorney George Felos, and Judge Greer already have the diagnosis they want.
Terri’s diagnosis was arrived at without the benefit of testing that most neurologists would consider standard for diagnosing PVS. One such test is MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). MRI is widely used today, even for ailments as simple as knee injuries — but Terri has never had one. Michael has repeatedly refused to consent to one. The neurologists I have spoken to have reacted with shock upon learning this fact. One such neurologist is Dr. Peter Morin. He is a researcher specializing in degenerative brain diseases, and has both an M.D. and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Boston University.
In the course of my conversation with Dr. Morin, he made reference to the standard use of MRI and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scans to diagnose the extent of brain injuries. He seemed to assume that these had been done for Terri. I stopped him and told him that these tests have never been done for her; that Michael had refused them.
There was a moment of dead silence.
“That’s criminal,” he said, and then asked, in a tone of utter incredulity: “How can he continue as guardian? People are deliberating over this woman’s life and death and there’s been no MRI or PET?” He drew a reasonable conclusion: “These people [Michael Schiavo, George Felos, and Judge Greer] don’t want the information.”
Dr. Morin explained that he would feel obligated to obtain the information in these tests before making a diagnosis with life and death consequences. I told him that CT (Computer-Aided Tomography) scans had been done, and were partly the basis for the finding of PVS. The doctor retorted, “Spare no expense, eh?” I asked him to explain the comment; he said that a CT scan is a much less expensive test than an MRI, but it “only gives you a tenth of the information an MRI does.” He added, “A CT scan is useful only in pretty severe cases, such as trauma, and also during the few days after an anoxic (lack of oxygen) brain injury. It’s useful in an emergency-room setting. But if the question is ischemic injury [brain damage caused by lack of blood/oxygen to part of the brain] you want an MRI and PET. For subsequent evaluation of brain injury, the CT is pretty useless unless there has been a massive stroke.”
Other neurologists have concurred with Dr. Morin’s opinion. Dr. Thomas Zabiega, who trained at the University of Chicago, said, “Any neurologist who is objective would say ‘Yes’” to the question, “Should Terri be given an MRI?”
But in spite of the lack of advanced testing, such as an MRI, attorney George Felos has claimed that Terri’s cerebral cortex has “liquefied,” and doctors for Michael Schiavo have claimed, on the basis of the CT scans, that parts of Terri’s cerebral cortex “have been replaced by fluid.” The problem with such contentions is that the available evidence can’t support them. Dr. Zabiega explained that “a CT scan can’t resolve the kind of detail needed” to make such a pronouncement: “A CT scan is like a blurry photograph.” Dr. William Bell, a professor of neurology at Wake Forest University Medical School, agrees: “A CT scan doesn’t give much detail. In order to see it on a CT, you have to have massive damage.” Is it possible that Terri has that sort of “massive” brain damage? According to Dr. Bell, that isn’t likely. Sometimes, he said, even patients who are PVS have a “normal or near normal” MRI.
So why hasn’t an MRI been done for Terri? That question has never been satisfactorily answered. George Felos has argued that an MRI can’t be done because of thalamic implants that were placed in Terri’s skull during the last attempt at therapy, dating back to 1992. But Felos’s contention ignores the fact that these implants could be removed. Indeed, the doctor who put them in instructed Michael to have them removed. Michael has never done so.
The most obvious possible explanation for what would otherwise be inexplicable behavior is that Michael Schiavo, George Felos, and Judge Greer don’t want to admit any information that would upset the diagnosis they already have. Dr. Morin, when told that Michael had refused an MRI, and that Judge Greer had confirmed the decision, said: “He refused a non-invasive test? People trying to do the right thing want the best and most complete information available. We don't have that in Terri’s case.” Dr. Bell agreed with this assessment, saying, “It seems as though they’re fearful of any additional information.”
THE CRANFORD DIAGNOSIS
Doctors for Michael Schiavo have said that an MRI and PET are not necessary for Terri because PVS is primarily a “clinical” diagnosis, that is, one arrived at on the basis of examination of the patient, rather than by relying on tests. And the neurologists I have spoken to agree on the clinical nature of the diagnosis, while insisting that advanced tests nonetheless are a necessary part of it. But the star medical witness for Michael Schiavo, Dr. Ronald Cranford of the University of Minnesota, has repeatedly dismissed calls for MRI testing, and his opinion has prevailed...
That's usually what spews from Communists.
Thanks, but no thanks. Painting with a broad brush pretty much kills debate.
If Terri HAD an actual living will, advance directive or durable power of attorney ON PAPER saying no artificial means, I would be the first person to say pull the tube. Problem is that there was NO evidence of Terris intent, save for that of her ratbastid cheating husband and his equally slimy siblings. Why hearsay was allowed in is beyond me.
Ah, but what about a majority of Freepers?
I've seen scarier comments here in the past two weeks than I have in the past two years.
Would you prefer that he tried to let her life end right at the beginning.
Seems he's damned no matter what he did.
Yes. It's hard to understand why you think that it was right to impose your decision about that, onto another person.
Who cares whether "you" would want to live in that condition? That was not the issue. Are you so solipsistic?
Is it the right of the Courts or a family member to undo that decision and do what THEY want.
Um, do you have some sort of mental block preventing you from seeing the obvious? It was the court and a family member (Michael Schiavo) who was imposing the decision onto Terri (who was unable to speak for herself) in the first place.
She was really fine but the lack of tests put her in the state she was in?
The first duty of government is the protection of its citizens.
And up to this morning Terri was a citizen of the State of Florida and a citizen of the United States of America via the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
Protect me from my government. Please!
Untrue, I have all kinds of metal in my body and can have an MRI, and have had several MRI's to check the progress of recovery.
I am , (wow, how to write this without totally upsetting a few FReeper), very angry at the folks who knew Terri and Michael Schiavo well enough to testify in a medical malpractice trial, including her parents, and lied about their (Michael and Terry's) close relationship for money. When you abuse the courts...?
What is done is done, but would truth in the beginning have prevented this murder?
Rose
Yep.
I have to disagreee. I believe he did all he could WITHIN THE CONFINES OF FLORIDA LAW. That was the problem. Could he have rushed the Hospice, called in the guard, taken her out? Sure. But would he have been arrested like all the rest? Would his position to take care of the rest of the citizens that live in Florida been in danger? OF course!
It angers me as much as all the rest - but we have to - as conservatives - stick together on this. We cannot turn on ourselves, even though we do not like the outcome. We have to ban together now, more than ever, to make sure this NEVER happens again.
I know it is very easy for us to feel the hurt and anger - and look to place the blame. But in this case, the blame was clearly on the spouse, the judicial system, and and those who did not attempt to lift a finger. President Bush and his brother did more, than I daresay any others would have done.
But that is only my opinion. God Bless you, Terri! JK
So if a family member wanted to have you killed, you would object to the government getting involved in trying to save you if they knew about the efforts of your murderous kin?
You know, I am getting pretty sick and tired of foolish comments to the effect that conservatism is all about letting people kill other people. That a husband deciding to make his wife dead is a "private", "family matter". B.S. What utter, moronic, absurd, nonsense.
Do you, by any chance, recognize these words?
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life .... to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men
???
Well? Do you?
Yet you are just about the millionth person I have seen who has made this bizarre assertion that because conservatives favor small government, they favor government that LETS PEOPLE KILL OTHER PEOPLE.
Yes, it is true, that conservatives favor a small role for government. They want government powers restricted to a small, finite list. Guess what? Protecting the lives of citizens is the FIRST thing on that list, not the last. So however short we want the list to be, it's always gonna be on it. Got that?
You most likely have titanium in your body, yes?
That's idiotic.
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