Terri Schiavo Before dehydration
Posted on 04/01/2005 6:56:34 PM PST by CHARLITE
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 procedure by imagining they will be giving away unneeded organs from their cold, lifeless bodies. But the real situation is often quite different.
According to the testimony of Dr. Paul Byrne, a neonatologist from Toledo, Ohio, to a Pontifical Academy of Sciences meeting in Rome in February:
"All the vital signs of the donors are still present prior to the harvesting of organs, such as: normal body temperature and blood pressure; the heart is beating; vital organs, like the liver and kidneys, are functioning; and the donor is breathing with the help of a ventilator."
Since organs deteriorate rapidly after the moment of actual death, the "brain death" fiction allows them to be removed while they are still alive and usable for transplant.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Ping
Yes. If you are brain dead, you are not coming back, and, frankly, the hospital of today is going to refuse to care for you for very long. This is nothing like Terri Schiavo, who was, if the husband's doc are right, in a persistent vegetative state -- which means, among other things, alive and with plenty of electrical activity in the brain.
I am a member of LifeSharers. In return for pledging your organs for any other members who need them after your death, you get an increased chance that a high-quality organ will be more quickly available if you ever need one. This completely non-cash but free-market approach is disliked by some docs but is in accord with basic conservative principles. People who are pledged give organs to others are the only ones really deserving of receiving organs in time of need IMHO.
This has me upset on another front. It has made me lose confidence in the medical profession in general. I would like to know what my personal physicians think about abortion, etc., but shouldn't you want the best for their specialty when you need it?
What happened during the last two weeks has shaken up a lot of people who are not currently counted among conservatives.
Actually in the movie there was an underground (double entendres not intentional) operation in the hospital which targeted young vital people undergoing simple operations. The operating room was rigged where the oxygen tanks were replaced by carbon monoxide (i think ) the anesthesiologist would see nothing wrong until he had to bring them out of the effects of the anesthesia. They all ended up in a coma. The bodies were all housed in a separate complex that was designed to take "care of them". Starred George C. Scott (as the hospital administrator) and Genevieve Bujold a french actress who played his girlfriend and the doctor who uncovered the plot. it was a good movie.
The state constitution is very clear. The Governor then swears to it.
It can't be made any clearer than that.
The governor has failed Terri and the people of the state of Florida.
Thank you. Three flat line EEG's, dead MRI, dead Pet Scan. These patients are Brain dead and on vasopressors to assist with BP.
Most people (most is th operative word, here) will see that starving Terri was wrong - once they know the facts.
The others? Those are the ones you hope are not married...
(s)Does the patient have insurance? NO! presto! instant organ donor...(/s)
The team which will harvest the organs for transplant is separate from the physicians and nurses treating the patient. Only when the patient is declared brain dead can the harvest team perform its function.
This article is full of mularkey!
BUMP
Patients diagnosed as Persistent Vegetative State, such as Terri, do not by definition have flat EEGs. They do have some EEG activity. Only the brain dead have flat EEGs.
The diagnosis of PVS should be legally supplemented with a functional MRI and/or Pet scan. This never occurred in Terri's case, MS forbid it. Britain printed a report that 43% of the cases of PVS based on physician observation (such as Terri's) were wrong.
From what I've read Terri didn't have a flat EEG but the death docs decided it didn't count and her EEG was flat.(Would love to see it on the net and give it my two cents! I've seen her reported CT. It shows damage, and that her vision was probably very poor (that part of her brain, her occipital cortex is really shrunk , why? That is not consistent with diffuse hypoxia, but with trauma) but not necessarily PVS.
Yet they didn't declare her Brain Dead (if the EEG was flat this would have been and should have the diagnosis but they knew they couldn't pull it off), they declared her PVS. Medically this is hogwash! It just doesn't make medical sense.
I was responding the the article and comments about transplant patients and not patients who are PVS. Very very big difference.
A friend of mine's brother was a transplant surgeon and he explained the whole gruesome procedure to us over a Thanksgiving turkey. On the following Monday, I changed my driver's license back to non donor status!
No. The Governor made a considered decision not to start a civil war.
This is going to set the organ donor program back. I have never signed on, just for these very reasons.
Actually, the state spares no expense when it comes to prisoners. My wife signed an organ donor card until she became a state medical inspector and found that prisoners, IV drug abusers with liver damage, etc were getting the organ donations. Neither one of us will sign a card now.
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