If you watch the video closely, you'll see the person with the cognitive ability moving the balloon to follow the random movement of Terri's eyes.
Posted on 07/03/2006 4:51:05 PM PDT by Alouette
Doctors have proof on how man who was barely conscious for decades woke
Doctors have their first proof that a man who was barely conscious for nearly 20 years regained speech and movement because his brain spontaneously rewired itself by growing tiny new nerve connections to replace the ones sheared apart in a car crash.
Terry Wallis, 42, is thought to be the only person in the United States to recover so dramatically so long after a severe brain injury. He still needs help eating and cannot walk, but his speech continues to improve and he can count to 25 without interruption.
Wallis’ sudden recovery happened three years ago, but doctors said the same cannot be hoped for people in a persistent vegetative state, such as Terry Schiavo, the Florida woman who died last year after a fierce right-to-die court battle. Nor do they know how to make others with less serious damage, like Wallis, recover.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I read none, and I challenge you to produce one quote to that effect.
There were plenty who thought that Terri be allowed to die, fulfilling her wish not to live that way.
What about those like bvw who believe a person has no right to make that decision?
It could be that they were reporting on only what they were given. I find it hard to believe that the pro-Terri media laid out 40 scan slices on the conference table and then picked the two that exaggerated the condition.
The neurologists (and radiologists) involved in this case certainly had access to all of the scans, and they concluded massive loss of the cerebral cortex.
If you watch the video closely, you'll see the person with the cognitive ability moving the balloon to follow the random movement of Terri's eyes.
"Now, if you really want my opinion, the angle you should be taking on all this is: This man's family cared for him and stimulated his brain - for instance, taking him on outings - throughout the period since his accident, whereas by many accounts Michael Schiavo neglected Terri or even withdrew care and stimulation. That's the angle you should be hitting IMHO if you want to argue that with proper treatment she may have recovered." Good point.
Imagine if she wasn't cremated. The indignity would go on and on and on ....
bttt
It is so sad that those of us who 1) believe in the law and 2) can see facts clearly are demonized on this site.
I wandered onto those Shaivo threads a few times -- the vitrol was unbelievable.
The article is written in such a way as to fend off criticism being renewed of the heinous, murderous act perpetrated on Schiavo; we are moving from a duty to protect life to a duty to perform so as to deserve life if the current trend continues.
A society is only as kind as its treatment of its less valuable members demonstrates.
There was. But it seemed to me that all the doubters were the pro-life crowd -- in other words, it better suited their agenda to find doubt.
An impartial court heard all the sworn testimony and evidence, from both sides, subject to cross examination, and concluded that it had "clear and convincing" evidence as to Terri's wishes. I went with that.
Sure it did. If Terri was not cremated, you know for a fact she'd have been disinterred by now for "one more final, definitive, and conclusive autopsy to lay to rest the speculation ... blah blah blah."
You don't remember the calls for "one more swallow test" and "one more CAT scan" and "let's do a PET scan"?
"Didn't you find it interesting that instead of just concentrating on this man's recovery that a comment had to be added but.... Why?"
Why? You know why. Because when I started to read this article, the first thing that popped up in my mind was, "How is this different than Terri?" If you're honest, you'll say the same.
The author simply answered the question without being asked.
Remember, these are not "my brain shots" or "their brain shots". These were two specific CT slices picked out by the media, put side by side, and then released to the public as "evidence".
My point was not to make a conclusion about Schiavo one way or the other. Like everybody else in the general public, I know only what has been released to the media and then filtered and had a spin put on it by the media and therefore I do not know 99.9% of the facts. My opinion as far as the entire case is that I do not have enough information to arrive at a meaningful opinion.
Comparing two specific CT slices, however, is part of my medical specialty and I analyze literally thousands of CT slices every day I go to work.
So, my comments dealt solely with the deceit of comparing those two specific CT slices with each other since one is taken at a level where you normally see only a small amount of CSF and the other is taken at a level where you normally seen a great deal more CSF.
My point was that those two particular CT slices, that I have seen released by the press as "evidence", resort to trickery to exagerate a point.
It is analogous to setting up a camera with a 50 mm fixed lens on a tripod on the goal line of a football field, taking a photo of Willie standing at the 10 yard line and Joe standing at the 30 yard line and then using the measurements of the height of the bodies on the final print to say that Willie is much taller than Joe.
Willie could indeed be taller than Joe......by a lot.
The point, however, is that when someone resorts to image trickery to make one point, your B.S. meter starts to go off about everything else they claim to be true.
"He still thinks Ronald Reagan is president," his father, Jerry, said in a statement...
If only...
And I believe you and respect your opinion.
But there were clearly more data available to the court than what you could analyze.
But thanks for sharing your analysis. I went back and read it and it helps me understand some things better.
I mean it.
Why do I think that the left, the party of death, destruction and nihilism, will poo poo this?
Oh, there most certainly is loss of the cerebral cortex. I can see that at any level. I also see very prominent cortical atrophy in some elderly patients that aren't the sharpest pencils in the box any more but walk in and out of our department.
My point, was to expose the "fake but accurate" tricks used by the selection of two images acquired at different anatomical levels that normally demonstrate a great difference in the amount of CSF seen in a normal person.
Compare the appearance of a normal brain at the level of the third ventricle (third ventricle is labeled with the "D" arrow) and the anterior horns (anterior horns are labeled with the "C" arrow)......
.........and the appearance of a normal brain at the level of the body of the lateral ventricles (lateral ventricles are labeled with the "C" arrow).
If you really want to impress a layman with the difference in "the amount of black stuff on her CT", you can compare the lateral ventricle level with the level just above the lateral ventricles.
The point I am trying to make is not whether Schiavo was salvageable or not. I do not have the necessary information to arrive at a meaningful opinion on that.
My point is that "fake but accurate" reporting tricks have become a standard operating procedure with the news media. That affects everything from the truth about what Schiavo's condition actually was to whether or not the U.S. will achieve final victory in the Iraq War before the news media totally demoralize the American Home Front with their "fake but accurate" reporting.
Media Use False Photo to Smear Marines on Haditha [Malkin Hat Tip]
Thank you for the fine and instructive posts. I intended to do the same, but you have a more excellent job than I expected of myself.
I am about as honest as you can get but that's another thread. I would not want to examine her body. I don't need to because I don't care how severely damaged someone is. They still have rights. Our society would not treat an animal the way she was treated. Whether some people like it or not I believe there will be a Teri's law someday to protect those who can't speak for themselves. Everyone has a passion. Mine is rehabilitation for the disabled. This isn't going away .
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