Posted on 01/08/2007 12:03:52 PM PST by shrinkermd
Weeks after suffering a brain hemorrhage, Sen. Tim Johnson is improving but still needs a ventilator at night to help him breathe, his doctor said Wednesday
The doctor said Johnson no longer needs a ventilator full-time. "His breathing has steadily improved and now he only requires ventilator assistance at night," said Deshmukh, the neurosurgeon treating the senator.
...His long-term prognosis is unclear. Deshmukh said his recovery is expected to take several months.
The senator "continues to be responsive to both his family and physicians _ following commands, squeezing his wife's hand, and understanding speech," Deshmukh said.
...Johnson has not spoken since the surgery because of the ventilator tubes, said spokeswoman Julianne Fisher. Doctors hope to remove the ventilator completely within the next week and then will test his speech, she said.
The senator was sedated for almost two weeks but has now been removed from the sedation, Fisher said.
"He does more, he has been moving more. These are all very positive signs," she said.
Johnson's doctors have said that when he arrived at the hospital, he was feeling weakness on his right side, and that condition probably will require physical therapy.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Which raises several interesting questions. Might Stephanie Herseth challenge Johnson in a Democratic primary? If not, how big a sympathy vote might Johnson (who has very high approval ratings in his home state) receive in the general election? I would expect family members would probably campaign on his behalf. How much backlash might there be towards a Republican who has to run against an incapacitated or not fully recovered Sen. Johnson? It would certainly be an unorthodox campaign in many ways.
They'll have some explainin' to do to keep him alive on a ventilator in a comatose state till the end of his term.
He's not comatose if he follows commands, recognizes family members, and understands speech. Stephen Hawking, the renowned physicist, has been on a portable ventilator. It isn't being on a ventilator or not that is indicative of higher brain function.
Dingy Harry will be casting Tim's votes until he fully recovers:
DemocRATic party rule 140.1.1 - If a DemocRAT is head honcho in the Senate, and a DemocRAT Senator is in a persistent vegetative state (outside the normal vegetative state), then said head honcho will cast the extra vote until the disabled Senator returns to normal vegetative state and is able to vote the party line. Head honcho is not required to represent the wishes of theState that elected the Senator in the persistent vegetative state.
If the party affiliations were reversed it would be Page One news every night. Course the Republicans have done little to draw attention to this travesty. They aren't even insisting on a "kickout clause" to reorganize the Senate should the worst happen to Sen. Johnson.
High! Along with impaired tolerance for frustration.
If the Republicans don't nominate an idiot big spender, they can win it in 2008.
Terri accomplished some of those very things. It has yet to be established that he can make a complete recovery. Looks like he has just had further surgery. I wish him well, but time will tell.
Hypothetically, what will the dems do if he cannot recover? If it means control of the Senate, what would they do?
Not to start a big argument, but the autopsy results made it extremely unlikely that she recognized anyone or understood speech. And from the GAL report, she never followed commands.
It's a good question as to what will happen if he doesn't recover enough to resume - and a good question as to what is "enough to resume." I assume if that he decides to resign, or isn't competent to decide and his family says he's resigning, there will be a big fight, at the end of which the governor will appoint his choice. And the dems may scream and yell, but them's the rules.
"Garp!"
Rubber stamp. And Reid is not too proud to use it.
Maybe we have too much "class and compassion."
Where has it gotten us?
You got me there.
Wait until Reid has him wheeled in for the first vote and a page gets to hold his arm up! Think I'm kidding?
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