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Terri Schiavo — A Tragedy Compounded
New England Journal of Medicine ^ | April 21, 2005 | Timothy E. Quill, M.D.

Posted on 04/21/2005 9:07:43 AM PDT by bookworm100

...Distortion by interest groups, media hyperbole, and manipulative use of videotape characterized this case and demonstrate what can happen when a patient becomes more a precedent-setting symbol than a unique human being...

(Excerpt) Read more at content.nejm.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: doctors; quill; schiavo; terrischiavo
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Read what is being sent to the medical community by the doctor in the Schiavo case.
1 posted on 04/21/2005 9:07:45 AM PDT by bookworm100
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To: bookworm100
The two neurologists selected by Michael Schiavo, a court-appointed "neutral" neurologist, and Ms. Schiavo's attending physician all agreed that her condition met the criteria for a persistent vegetative state.

Nope. No possible pro-euthinasia bias there! (/s)

The neurologist and the radiologist chosen by the patient's parents and siblings, the Schindler family, disagreed and suggested that Ms. Schiavo's condition might improve with unproven therapies such as hyperbaric oxygen or vasodilators — but had no objective data to support their assertions.

So why not try? She wasn't suffering, so there was all the time in the world to attempt to help her. Why rush her through a death sentence when she had committed no crime?
Even a mass murdering terrorist gets out of the death penalty if one person on the jury disagrees with it!!!

There's absolutely no excuse for her murder.

2 posted on 04/21/2005 9:18:35 AM PDT by concerned about politics (Vote Republican - Vote morally correct!)
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To: bookworm100

I read the propaganda piece. This is a Death Culture "doctor" who is hot to trot for involutary euthansia, as a bookend to his abortionist industry colleagues. All these "doctors" act in complete violation of basic human decency and the Hippocratic Oath.


3 posted on 04/21/2005 9:20:54 AM PDT by FormerACLUmember (Honoring Saint Jude's assistance every day.)
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To: concerned about politics

I totally agree. There is no excuse for what happened to her and I am appalled that it could happen in the USA.
The "spin" for the doctors is amazing.


4 posted on 04/21/2005 9:21:48 AM PDT by bookworm100
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To: bookworm100; floriduh voter; phenn; FreepinforTerri; kimmie7; Pegita; windchime; tutstar; ...
No surprise here. Quill is just another one of those doctors who think quality of life is the issue. He's sided with Cranford on plenty of things. This is the face of hospice care for our future.

Among other things he said, I found this to be interesting: "Although I did not examine her, from the data I reviewed, I have no doubt that Terri Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state and that her cognitive and neurologic functions were unfortunately not going to improve."

Terri ping! If anyone would like to be added to or removed from my Terri ping list, please let me know by FReepmail!

5 posted on 04/21/2005 9:22:50 AM PDT by Ohioan from Florida (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.- Edmund Burke)
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To: bookworm100
It boils down to "well, that was unpleasant." Although it's clear the doctor thinks this "unique human being" should probably have been snuffed 13 years sooner. I have to call bullpoop on this bit, though:

Her family and the public should be reassured and educated that dying in this way can be a natural, humane process (humans died in this way for thousands of years before the advent of feeding tubes).

Not so. Thousands of years ago, patients like this wouldn't have survived the initial trauma. It is a uniquely modern dilemma that we can stabilize the health of someone who is so very seriously functionally impaired.

Doctors are profesionally offended by patients who have no prospect of improvement, and deeply offended to have their pronouncements questioned. This one is no different.

6 posted on 04/21/2005 9:22:53 AM PDT by prion (Yes, as a matter of fact, I AM the spelling police)
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To: concerned about politics
There have been only a few reported cases in which minimal cognitive and motor functions were restored three months or more after the diagnosis of a persistent vegetative state due to hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy; in none of these cases was there the sort of objective evidence of severe cortical damage that was present in this case, nor was the period of disability so long.

Having viewed some of the highly edited videotaped material of Terri Schiavo and having seen other patients in a persistent vegetative state, I am not surprised that family members and others unfamiliar with this condition would interpret some of her apparent alertness and movement as meaningful.

That's why, you should read the ENTIRE paragraph on his basis.

7 posted on 04/21/2005 9:23:51 AM PDT by Bigturbowski
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To: bookworm100
hypokalemia brought on by an eating disorder

Oh, brother! This is so disgusting. They killed her and she wasn't even sick.

8 posted on 04/21/2005 9:25:00 AM PDT by Saundra Duffy ( Theresa Marie SCHINDLER - We will NEVER FORGET! - IMPEACH JUDGE GREER!!!)
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To: bookworm100

I read it and sent a nasty email to them. There are too many doctors out there that think they are God. They need to realize they are the instruments of God.
I already told my son, who is in an EMT and studying to be a paramedic that I don't want to find out he helped starve and dehydrate some poor helpless person. He started to laugh but then realized how dead serious I was. He promised he would never help in that type of situation.


9 posted on 04/21/2005 9:25:29 AM PDT by LauraJean (sometimes I win sometimes I donate to the equine benevolent society)
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To: concerned about politics
There's absolutely no excuse for her murder.

Agreed, euthanasia is murder, plain and simple.

10 posted on 04/21/2005 9:31:43 AM PDT by TheDon (Euthanasia is an atrocity.)
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To: bookworm100

Michael Schiavo's pet doctors are notorious patient killers. And so is the New England Journal of Medicine, which pioneered medical euthanasia and assisted suicide.

You can expect nothing else from this journal, which has long been in the forefront of the Culture of Death.


11 posted on 04/21/2005 9:38:49 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: MHGinTN; Coleus; nickcarraway; narses; Mr. Silverback; Canticle_of_Deborah; ...
Terri PING….
Please let me know if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.


12 posted on 04/21/2005 9:39:13 AM PDT by cpforlife.org (Never put an innocent or honest person to death. I will not allow anyone guilty of this to go free.)
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To: Ohioan from Florida

>>"Although I did not examine her, from the data I reviewed, I have no doubt that Terri Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative

that's pretty telling... doctor shortcuts... don't look at the patient, just look at her charts that Michael purged of all POSITIVE comments each day.


13 posted on 04/21/2005 9:41:24 AM PDT by Future Useless Eater (FreedomLoving_Engineer) (It was wrong to kill her. No other "facts" matter.-JimRobinson)
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To: concerned about politics

>>and Ms. Schiavo's attending physician all agreed that her condition met the criteria for a persistent vegetative state.

they are torturing comments from different timeframes.
In 2002, Greer planned to use the 5 doctors + the attending
to determine her PVS status. 6 doctors total.

But after hearing her attending exclaim surprise at how aware she seems to be, Greer changed gears, tossed out the attending physician,
and formed his opinion based on the 3-to-2 results from just the other doctors.


14 posted on 04/21/2005 9:46:56 AM PDT by Future Useless Eater (FreedomLoving_Engineer) (It was wrong to kill her. No other "facts" matter.-JimRobinson)
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To: Future Useless Eater; All

Would Dr. Quill be surprised that this woman recovered?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1387493/posts


15 posted on 04/21/2005 9:46:56 AM PDT by Ohioan from Florida (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.- Edmund Burke)
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To: bookworm100

What the doctor appears to be saying is that this was a quality of life case in which the quality of the life didn't come up to his subjective standards. That's all.


16 posted on 04/21/2005 9:47:19 AM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: Saundra Duffy
Let us begin with some medical facts. On February 25, 1990, Terri Schiavo had a cardiac arrest, triggered by extreme hypokalemia brought on by an eating disorder.

It is worse than that. She was not diagnosed as having such a disorder. It is not a fact, but it is a supposition in order to explain her collapse.

17 posted on 04/21/2005 9:47:32 AM PDT by AndrewC (Darwinian logic -- It is just-so if it is just-so)
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To: bookworm100

He conveniently ignores the fact that there was not CLEAR evidence that Terri would wish to be starved. He conveniently ignores the fact that this was a precedent setting case to put the "Hearsay evidence" on the books for precedence.

He conveniently ignores the fact of Terri's religious beliefs that would not want her starved/dehydrated to death.

He also conveniently ignores the fact that Felos was very involved in the euthanasia movement, that laws had been systematically adjusted to allow hearsay evidence rather than proof. How? By an end-of-life panel which was given law making ability without oversight of the legislature. Euthanasists are on the panel.

So, just ignore what you wish and make a decision. Seems that is exactly how Terri was killed.


18 posted on 04/21/2005 9:51:35 AM PDT by ClancyJ (Florida Motto: Send me your weak, frail, elderly - and we will give them 'rest'".)
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To: AndrewC

Odd that Quill titled his work "Terri Schiavo - A Tragedy Compounded". He is compounding it further by putting this garbage in print.


19 posted on 04/21/2005 9:52:12 AM PDT by Ohioan from Florida (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.- Edmund Burke)
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To: Mr Ramsbotham

After reading this 'doctor's' submission, I have, without examining him, determined that he exhibits no cortical function. Since his quality of life cannot be expected to improve, he should be locked in a room sans food and water until such time all natural bodily functions cease. Since some moveable 'quality of life' standard seems to be what they desire to use, it can be manipulated to include anyone that they wish offed for being a 'useless eater'. Oh, joy. And its all 'legal'. More joy.


20 posted on 04/21/2005 9:57:05 AM PDT by ex 98C MI Dude (Our legal system is in a PVS. Time to remove it from the public feeding trough.)
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