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Vegetative man tells doctors ‘I’m not in pain’ via MRI communication
Yahoo ^ | November 14, 2012 | Eric Pfeiffer

Posted on 11/14/2012 6:20:31 AM PST by NYer

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To: treetopsandroofs

In China, the State just says “You’re dead to me” and that is good enough.


21 posted on 11/14/2012 7:16:58 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: lacrew

In all reality doctors know very little about the brain. Medical tests are not reliable either, people showing severe effects of brain damage can have normal looking scans, and people with little effects can have scans that show a lot of damage.

It really is a world of mystery, and yet some doctors are willing to make huge decisions based on something they really don’t know about. It makes it very hard for family to make a decision as to care, though many families don’t know how little is really known about the brain.

There is a lot of research being done right now by the military and doctors working with the military because we have many who have suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Iraq and Afghanistan.


22 posted on 11/14/2012 7:17:56 AM PST by Tammy8 (~Secure the border and deport all illegals- do it now! ~ Support our Troops!~)
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To: NYer

They should ask him if he’s bored.


23 posted on 11/14/2012 7:18:36 AM PST by Lucas McCain
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To: Wurlitzer

True, but on the other hand, you might be having a great dream and not have to worry about getting woken up in the middle of it.


24 posted on 11/14/2012 7:26:12 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: Boogieman
I've had nasty rows with several people because I refuse to be an organ donor. They accuse me of being heartless and selfish and refuse to consider my reasoning.

Stories like this one vindicate my decision. .

25 posted on 11/14/2012 7:29:24 AM PST by jboot (This isn't your father's America. Stay safe and keep your powder dry.)
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To: NYer
I don't want to be wet blanket here, but here is the nagging doubt I have about this story:

Is the doctor running the "communication test" the ONLY person that can "Interpret" the patient's responses? If so, then this is no better than the "guided writing" and other supposed methods of reaching brain damaged people.

It just turns out that the person "interpreting" the results is simply the one supplying the answers.
26 posted on 11/14/2012 7:33:54 AM PST by Rebel_Ace (Tags?!? Tags?!? We don' neeeed no stinkin' Tags!)
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To: lacrew

“I assume the doctors know when there is ‘no chance’.”

I think that what doctors want people to assume. In reality, they have no more definitive answer than the rest of us as to whether or when people will recover from these traumatic brain injuries. They may have a general sense of the probabilities, but there is no way for them to accurately judge any specific case.


27 posted on 11/14/2012 7:38:42 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: jboot

I avoid those arguments. I just tell people that I smoke, drink, and eat high-cholesterol foods. You don’t want my organs!


28 posted on 11/14/2012 7:39:59 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: John O; All

They didn’t even want any “extreme” measures for Terri only that she be given nutrition and hydration. What abominable people deny that to someone?


29 posted on 11/14/2012 8:04:41 AM PST by MiddleEarth (With hope or without hope we'll follow the trail of our enemies. Woe to them, if we prove the faster)
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To: jboot
I don't have rows with anyone about whether I donate my body. I refuse to do it. Until they pay my family for the organs. I mean it. While hospitals, doctors, nurses, anesthetists, etc. all get paid for using my organs why should my family not get a cut?

Note to anyone wanting to point out my selfishness. Don't bother. I was a donor till I read stories about how much is costs the insurance companies to cover these operations. Someone gets that money why shouldn't my family get some of it?

30 posted on 11/14/2012 8:05:40 AM PST by raybbr (People who still support Obama are either a Marxist or a moron.)
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To: Boogieman
LOL!

My problem is I don't have too many bad habits, I don't have any chronic ilnesses and I'm in top shape for my age. The people who take me to task know me too well. (But I should have used it on the libtard bimbo at the DMV. She registered me in as a donor against my wishes (and absent he consent form!). I made her back out my records and re-generate my license, which made her very unhappy.)

Maybe I should start drinking heavily. God knows I'd like to these days.

31 posted on 11/14/2012 8:06:40 AM PST by jboot (This isn't your father's America. Stay safe and keep your powder dry.)
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To: raybbr

Well, it is mostly close family that argues with me. There is too much “it’s all good” thinking in my generation. Folks should be a LOT more paranoid.


32 posted on 11/14/2012 8:09:57 AM PST by jboot (This isn't your father's America. Stay safe and keep your powder dry.)
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To: lacrew
I was astonished that 5 days seemd to be the limit...

At the huge per day cost of a critical care unit most insurance is totally gobbled up in 5 days. The hospital and doctors are more concerned about the money than the patient.

33 posted on 11/14/2012 8:11:01 AM PST by fella ("As it was before Noah, so shall it be again,")
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To: John O

Take that, Felos, HINO and Greer!


34 posted on 11/14/2012 8:16:36 AM PST by bgill (We've passed the point of no return. Welcome to Al Amerika.)
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To: lacrew

This process can remove all doubt as to sentience of the “vegetative” one vs’s no personality response at all. It will make it easier to make decisions such as “pull the plug”...though in a lot of cases, folks who have “weathered” the initial storm or needing vent support are often vent weaned to just trach/collar O2 support with suctioning as needed with the patient breathing on his/her own but still in a coma/ semi comatose state. (many times a trach isn’t even needed as some patients have enough autonomic ability to cough and swallow with little air way management needed though they’ll still be Gastric tube fed)


35 posted on 11/14/2012 8:22:06 AM PST by mdmathis6 ("Barry" Xmas to all and have a rapaciously taxable New Year!)
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To: jboot

“They accuse me of being heartless “

Just tell them if they mistakenly took your organs “too early”...you certainly would end up being “heartless”!

;)


36 posted on 11/14/2012 8:27:16 AM PST by mdmathis6 ("Barry" Xmas to all and have a rapaciously taxable New Year!)
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To: NYer

Why didn’t we think of this sooner! It is sooo simple: Ask qwuestions and have the aptient answer by thinking in various terms, such as a math equation for yes and colors for no. The brain activity changes based on the patients thoughts. Then ask known questions: Is your name Routley? Is your name Mary? Do you know that you are in a hospital? Do you think you are in a zoo? etc.


37 posted on 11/14/2012 8:31:11 AM PST by CodeToad (Padme: "So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause.")
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To: NYer

There must be some discernible boolean state they can read (and he can positively control). They ask him yes or no questions that he and they know the answers to (do birds fly? is the sky green?) to verify the communication. Then they can ask him other questions: “Do you want to continue to live?” “Do you like the massages the night nurse gives?”


38 posted on 11/14/2012 8:37:14 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed (Hold My Beer and Watch This!)
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To: wagglebee

The medical community gets it wrong again.

Imagine that.

Good thing they decided to try to communicate with him instead of harvesting his organs.


39 posted on 11/14/2012 8:46:45 AM PST by metmom (For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery)
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To: NYer
a Canadian man has begun communicating with doctors who are monitoring his brain activity through Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans.

will they be able to vote?

40 posted on 11/14/2012 9:02:18 AM PST by mjp ((pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, natural rights, limited government, capitalism}))
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