‘Brain dead’ woman recovers after husband refuses to withdraw life support

LifeSiteNews ^ | 5/12/11 | Christine Dhanagom

[wagglebee]

NORTHERN TERRITORY, Australia, May 12, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An Australian woman who was declared “brain dead” regained consciousness after weeks of fighting doctor recommendations that her ventilator be shut off, according to a report in the Northern Territory News yesterday.

Fifty-six-year-old Gloria Cruz was rushed to Royal Darwin Hospital in the Northern Territory of Australia on March 7, after having a stroke in her sleep.

When a CAT scan revealed that Cruz was most likely suffering from a brain tumor, she underwent surgery in what initially appeared to be an unsuccessful attempt to save her life.

“The moment I saw my wife in the ICU I thought I’d collapse,” Gloria’s husband, Tani Cruz said, according to Northern Territory News. “I couldn’t believe that I was looking at the woman I have loved for 27 years. She was not my wife. Her face was swollen. Her hair was gone. Tubes were inserted in her mouth. There was a tube in the top of her head. Another in her hands. And she was lying almost lifelessly.”

Doctors told Mr. Cruz that his wife would die within 48 hours, calling her situation “hopeless.” They recommended that the ventilator that was keeping her breathing be removed.

While Cruz stalled the decision, he was contacted by a social worker and a “patient advocate” who urged him to remove the ventilator and allow his wife to die.

“I told him that God knows how much I love her - that I don’t want her to suffer but I don’t want her to leave us,” Cruz said. “I’m a Catholic – I believe in miracles.”

After two weeks, he allowed them to shut off the ventilator, but insisted that a breathing tube be inserted in her mouth so that she could continue breathing on her own.

Three days later, Gloria Cruz defied the medical experts and woke from her coma. According to her husband, she is now alert, mobile, and on her way to recovery.

“We have a strong faith and always believed that God would help us,” said Cruz.

An increasing number of experts have begun calling into question the “brain death” criteria for determining death. They argue that brain death is an arbitrary set of criteria developed largely to ensure the usability of organs harvested from such patients, as well as to decrease the medical costs involved in keeping “brain dead” patients alive on life support.

A number of incidents have seemed to confirm this view, including one particularly chilling case in which a young man declared “brain dead” actually heard doctors discussing harvesting his organs. Minutes before being wheeled into the operating room to have his organs removed, he woke up.

[wagglebee]

While Terri Schiavo was being murdered I distinctly remember being told that people with brain injuries like these NEVER recover.

[wagglebee]

Pro-Life Ping

[wagglebee]

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[Spudx7]

A pro-life group (the name escapes me) has some literature making the case that organs must be harvested from a living person. Once a person is declared “brain dead” the organs can then be harvested while the rest of the body is still alive, giving the hospital valuable organs.

[wastedyears]

Doesn’t sound pro-life to me.

[HereInTheHeartland]

“An increasing number of experts have begun calling into question the “brain death” criteria for determining death.”

It also doesn’t stop Democrats running for elected office.

[Outlaw Woman]

Not to hijack the thread but I remember during that time even 'friends' argued with me about her "quality" of life. I couldn't believe it. Here this woman was being murdered, in front of the entire nation, and people were actually debating about it. Unbelievable.

Regarding this woman, I'm so sure the staff was very 'gentle' in encouraging the husband to finish his wife off. /s Thank God he didn't listen.

[Outlaw Woman]

I'm sorry but any group advocating what you say they are advocating is not a "pro-life" group.

[wagglebee]

You're basically correct, the term "brain death" was originated by organ harvesters as an excuse to be able to take organs from a living person. It's really nothing more than an excuse to kill the living.

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/braindeath/index?tab=articles

[RnMomof7]

An increasing number of experts have begun calling into question the “brain death” criteria for determining death. They argue that brain death is an arbitrary set of criteria developed largely to ensure the usability of organs harvested from such patients, as well as to decrease the medical costs involved in keeping “brain dead” patients alive on life support.

I have read about this ..they decide they want the healthy organs from someone with a serious injury ..they do minimal or no surgery and come to the family to ask for the organs. I have not and will not ever sign a release for my organs.. it is like signing a death certificate for yourself if you are ever critically ill

[wagglebee]

I think you are reading it wrong. Let me see if I can clarify:

Pro-life groups try to educate the public that "brain death" is simply a label that is used by organ harvesters to allow them to take organs from a living person.

Pro-life groups are just informing people of the facts (as they do with abortion), they ARE NOT endorsing them.

[null and void]

While Terri Schiavo was being murdered I distinctly remember being told that people with brain injuries like these NEVER recover.

...and dying of starvation and dehydration is euphoric.

[mquinn]

Her brain wasn’t just injured, it was essentially mush, if you recall the autopsy findings.

[Spudx7]

The brochure was making the point that to harvest someone’s organs is to kill them, that donating organs is wrong due to the fact that it must be done while the donor is still living.

Makes me ponder what I would do if ever faced with a situation in which one of my children needed a transplant.

[umgud]

My ex is brain dead. Unfortunately, she’s not on life support (except $ from me).

[wastedyears]

I figure, hope it’s something that you have two of, or a sliver of liver.

[wagglebee]

"Quality of life" is a VERY RELATIVE term, its meaning changes from person-to-person and it even changes for the individual on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, the term is consistently used by the culture of death as an excuse to kill people. They say things like, "The quality of life in parts of Africa is so bad that it would be better if these people were never born."

I have a fairly high standard of living personally; I wouldn't want to live the way I know many less fortunate people live, but that DOES NOT MEAN that I don't want them to live or that I wouldn't want to live if I was in their shoes.

[Outlaw Woman]

That is not the way it read to me. The first sentence of the post (#5) was what I based the ‘advocating’ on. If they aren’t endorsing it and are simply trying to show the insidiousness of the label of “brain dead”, then it is of course a positive thing.

[wagglebee]

Her brain wasn’t just injured, it was essentially mush, if you recall the autopsy findings.

Yes, thirteen days without hydration will almost certainly destroy a person's brain.

Since you weren't here while Terri was being murdered (or maybe you were) perhaps you can enlighten us. Terri was first hospitalized in 1990, after an operation she started rehabilitation and was getting better (she could sit up and swallow on her own). Then she became rich and her "husband" decided to kill her off. What criteria exists for brain death where a person is CONSCIOUS?

Why did her "husband" first try to help her and later decide to kill her?

Be sure to provide FACTS, because we have a lot of them.