Posted on 06/28/2007 3:58:52 PM PDT by wagglebee
CHANDLER, Arizona, June 28, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Written off by doctors as a hopeless “vegetable”, an Arizona man would not now be on his way to recovery from an accident caused by a marital quarrel if not for his family’s unrelenting struggle for his life.
The Arizona Republic reports that on Wednesday, Jesse Ramirez, awoke from his nearly month long persistent vegetative state (PVS) and now “can hug and kiss, nod his head, answer yes and no questions, give a thumbs-up sign and sit in a chair.”
If not for the past few weeks’ legal battles that ended Tuesday with a favorable settlement for him and his family, Jesse Ramirez, who depended on feeding tubes for food and water, would certainly have died in circumstances very similar to the tragic 2005 death of Terri Schindler-Schiavo.
On May 30, Jesse Ramirez and his wife Rebecca Ramirez were quarreling in their SUV when he lost control and crashed into a pottery market, ejecting them both from the vehicle. Ramirez suffered a broken neck and major head-trauma, while his wife had only minor injuries.
Just before the accident, Rebecca had attempted to jump from the moving vehicle saying she was afraid of her husband, who accused her of marital infidelity. Police have yet to determine what exactly led Ramirez to lose control of the wheel.
Ten days after the accident and Ramirez’s PVS diagnosis, Rebecca ordered the hospice where he was staying to remove his feeding tubes on June 8. Ramirez family then began pleading with her to let them try and save his life.
“I'm asking you for the biggest favor of my life,” Jesse’s father told her. “Can you give my son another chance?” Jesse Ramirez Sr. told the Arizona Republic she then hung up on him.
In desperation, the family turned to the Scottsdale-based Alliance Defense Fund, which challenged the prudence of allowing Rebecca to arbitrate her husband’s fate, considering their recent marital strife.
“We've got to make sure the decision-maker is the very best and most capable one,” senior counsel Gary McCaleb told the Arizona Republic. “She said she was in fear of her life. Ten days later, she's going to say whether he lives or dies? Frankly, it's too much to ask of the wife.”
Maricopa County Superior Court judge Paul Katz agreed and ordered the tubes reconnected while an independent attorney mediated between Rebecca Ramirez and Jesse’s family and talked to Jesse's doctors. Then Tuesday Katz ruled that a court-appointed guardian would make decisions for Ramirez while the court continued to investigate his health.
“As we have discussed here previously, PVS is often misdiagnosed. More importantly, it can't be done accurately after only a few weeks post trauma. So, why the rush in this case to write the man off?” commented bioethics expert and author Wesley J. Smith on his blog. “This much is sure: But for parents willing to fight for his life, Ramirez would be dead today rather than entering the rehabilitation unit.”
“Don’t forget calcium, - - - “
Truer words were never spoken. I’ll have to remember to stop by a Publix market and get more Otter Paws ice cream.
Alcohol can have a severe interaction with certain prescription drugs. It could very well have been accidental.
The priority now is to get her the best treatment. I would recommend having her examined by a neurologist, who will then meet with the family to discuss options. Ask questions, and take notes. This is a critical time in the recovery process, so don’t be timid.
Who has the children? Are the police investigating?
What a sad situation.
The problem with this article is that it does not say how much insurance is involved!
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There have been several recent stories here. One was about a man who was in a coma for like 20 years. Another was about a woman who woke up after being in a coma for a long time, talked to family, ate cake, and went back into the coma. Just think if these people had been killed like Terri.
Don’t despair, miracles do happen. My little brother had a stroke May 19, massive blood clot in his lung. I spent the week 5/21-5/25 in Toledo visiting him at the Med. University of Toledo Neuro ICU, along with his wife of 21 years and four children.
It was awful, eyes open, no apparent cognitive function, trach and feeding tubes, brain swelling, BP and heart rate all over the place. The doctors said much the same thing, his organs were functioning well but they didn’t hold out much hope of recovery.
By the grace of God he is beginning to recover. Greg has spoken a little, he recognizes his family and interacts with them, holding his five year old son Casey’s hand to his cheek, kissing his wife. He responds to verbal requests (consistently with his wife, less so with strangers).
His wife Sue says he has even been a little playful at times.
Last Friday she tells me he took three steps using the paralell bars. Soon, his doctor’s say, they will be able to remove the trach tube, after that heals the feeding tube in his side will be removed next. Recovery will probably be long and difficult and the extent is unknowable right now but he is lucky to have a loving and loyal wife. Sue has been at his side constantly since it happened and I believe her presence is one of the most important factors in his recovery.
It was two to three weeks before Greg began to show any response, so don’t despair. I wish all the best for you and your family, hang in there.
I’m with you, Saundra. Terri’s death haunts me to this day.
God bless Paul Katz, the wise judge in this case.
Nice list! I wonder if the troll is still only on aisle 44 or if he has moved on to check out if he can find “vegetables.”
I’m no troll. For this guy to recover, all he had to do was wake up. He hadn’t spent years upon years in a coma which had seen his brain turn essentially to liquid, removing all vestiges of the personality that formed the person he was. That is the situation poor Mrs. Schiavo was in. That situation is far more complex and difficult to recover from, requiring Almighty God to completely rebuild the brain from the cellular level and then reimplant it with all the memories and emotions and humanity that made her who she was. So no, this guy was not “like Terri Schiavo” in any way except his malady, and to claim that he was is incredibly intellectually dishonest.
Either you are TOTALLY MISINFORMED or you are LYING. You claim that you aren't a troll, so I will give you the benefit of the doubt and presume that you are misinformed.
Terri WAS NOT in a coma when her death was ordered and she hadn't been in a comatose state for years and had NEVER been comatose for an extended period. Terri's condition deteriorated after her estranged spouse illegally refused to spend on her rehabilitation even though the court awarded the money for that express purpose.
There are plenty of resources right here on FR and people who will tell you the TRUTH about Terri's condition and what was done to her
I think this is one of the big reasons they really don’t like me:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1791044/posts
Just for the sake of your incredible intellectual honesty, would you be so good as to show us any medical record that Terri was in a coma "years upon years"? That her brain was "essentially ... liquid"? That Terri had been deprived of "all vestiges of [her] personality"?
You might also give us your theory of how she was injured.
According to the decision of the court in 2000, to a large extent her brain had been replaced by spinal fluid, and her movements were reflexive and predicated on brain stem activity alone.
First of all, a court can decide what it thinks is the truth based on testimony; but obviously, when it comes to a person’s brain, they have no absolute way of knowing if they are correct or not. However, here are links to over three dozen sworn affidavits that shed a lot more light on Terri’s condition:
http://terrisfight.org/mainlinks.php?tablesingle=main_terri_story&id=7
And here is a link to Terri’s autopsy report and related articles. (Keep in mind that thirteen days without food or hydration can and will have significant effects on all body tissue):
http://terrisfight.org/mainlinks.php?tablesingle=main_terri_story&id=2
It should also be noted the court, in 2000, examined the CAT scans at that time to reach their determination. I would imagine if those images showed anything other than her brain having been replaced by spinal fluid, the argument would have been fairly easy to prove.
And the CAT scan results were disputed by plenty of other professionals.
Yep. Sharon is on it. She’ll be like a bulldog on a bone over this, knowing her. She has met with the neurologist, but I haven’t had a chance to talk to her yet about their conversation.
The kids are with various relatives in the area. They have a nice Grandma, the mother of the loser Ex-Husband, and Sharon has them at times. It is really sad. They’re nice kids.
My Dad’s fear is that he’ll end up raising a 9 & 5 year old at his ripe old age, but I know he’ll rise to the occasion if need be.
And yes, the police are involved.
Thanks. I appreciate you sharing your story. :)
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