Schiavo Pt. Four

[Dis]

I guess I'm too stupid to understand those cartoons. .

[joncha]

No, just too ungodly.

[Ned]

Could this have helped Terri? A PVS firefighter was given a new drug and suddenly "woke up" for 14 hours.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/05/05/firefighter.recovery.ap/index.html

"Herbert went without oxygen for 10 minutes after being trapped under a collapsed roof while fighting a house fire in December 1995. He spent more than two months in a coma, was blind and had little, if any, memory. In the past several years, his condition had sunk to a near persistent vegetative state, Ahmed said.

...

"For the once robust firefighter, 10 minutes without oxygen had turned into nearly 10 years without seeing or speaking.

His wife refused to give up. His doctor had an idea.

Certain medications had shown promise in Dr. Jamil Ahmed's more recently brain-damaged patients, drugs normally used to treat Parkinson's disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression. He gave them to Herbert.

Three months later, on Saturday, something clicked in Herbert's brain. He started talking. Not only talking, his doctor said, but talking sensibly. Even making people laugh.

For the next 14 to 16 hours, until he fell into a 30-hour sleep early Sunday morning, Herbert chatted with his wife, Linda, his four sons and other family and friends, catching up on what he'd missed.

Miraculous?

"I think so," said Dr. Ellen Reilly, Herbert's attending physician at Father Baker Manor nursing home, where he has lived the past seven years."

[Kidlicious]

I had just forgoten about this.

[Az]

The lower picture is quite hilariously disturbing.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Ned
Could this have helped Terri? A PVS firefighter was given a new drug and suddenly "woke up" for 14 hours.

No. The firefighter, while brain-damaged, was speaking again soon after his accident, then slipped into a coma. The late Mrs. Schiavo had no brain to recover. Don't confuse a coma with PVS, Ned.

While this is great for the firefighter's family, it should be noted that when people wake up from long-term comas, they frequently slip back into them within a few months.

[Ned]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


No. The firefighter, while brain-damaged, was speaking again soon after his accident, then slipped into a coma. The late Mrs. Schiavo had no brain to recover. Don't confuse a coma with PVS, Ned.

While this is great for the firefighter's family, it should be noted that when people wake up from long-term comas, they frequently slip back into them within a few months.

Che, thanks. But both brain injuries occurred for the same reason: lack of oxygen. Thus it does appear that one can recover, to a degree.

As to Terri, she did talk after she regained consciousness. She continued to talk throughout. That was never contested. It was just that it was never "reliable" - which is exactly the same problem this firefighter seems to have.

[Dis]

and I think terri went 11 minutes not 10. That 1 extra minute is crucial. Plus she's a woman and has a smaller brain. I'm not being sexist, it's true men have 10% larger brains. This doesn't make them smarter, however. It's just they have larger body sizes.

[Ned]

It would be interesting to have someone who was involved the Schiavo case to make a comment on this event. Preferably this would be a doctor who knows what he's talking about.

[Dis]

has her autopsy results been released yet?

[Ned]

Originally posted by Dissident
has her autopsy results been released yet?

Not that I've heard. But the results with this firefighter have got me even more upset by what we did to this woman.

[Dis]

I didn't do anything to her

[Ned]

Originally posted by Dissident
I didn't do anything to her

Perhaps. But "we" would include anyone who spoke out in favor of her execution.

It is a shame that a "cure" for such brain damage may have been discovered shortly after she was put to death.

[Dis]

I'm not bumping this for no reason.

They were supposed to release the autopsy results in May. Has anyone seen them? I want to know how ****ed up her brain really was.