10 Responses to “Terri Schiavo blogburst”

1. Matt Vella Says:
   March 17th, 2006 at 11:34 pm

   If she was murdered, I HOPE I get murdered if I fall into a similar situation. I don’t just hope, I demand it. And if my wishes aren’t met and if there is such thing as an afterlife (although I doubt it all things considered) I will avenge myself.

   Her brain was not functioning. She was a piece of meat on a slab, a cash cow for the hospital. Nice way to keep her memory after her death.

2. Cao Says:
   March 18th, 2006 at 11:03 am

   What a sick way to categorize a person who could still communicate who was just brain damaged. I would hope that my family wouldn’t starve me to death because I had become ‘inconvenient’.

   If she was just a ‘meat on a slab’…then how could she have been walking with a walker? In the beginning, Michael was standing with her family, getting her treatment. After he got the insurance money, he stopped all treatment. She wasn’t a ‘cash cow’…her husband wanted her to die.

   You are disgusting.

3. BlogsforTerri Says:
   March 19th, 2006 at 7:06 pm

   Blogburst Update - Day 2

   We invite you to join us for a Blogburst in remembrance of Terri Schiavo beginning March 18th. On the anniversay of the 13 days that preceeded her death, we are asking our friends to write about Terri’s life and death,…

4. Matt Vella Says:
   March 19th, 2006 at 9:38 pm

   No, I am merely someone who stopped believing in things like Santa Claus, the Easter bunny and the like a long time ago.

   “Just” brain damaged? Communicating? There was very little left of her brain that actually functioned save for that which governs the autonomic nervous system. Those “reactions” were in line with thousands of other patients who are and were considered brain dead who were allowed to die.

   Disgusting? Allow me to retort. Read the autopsy, you mental midget. There’s no fool like an old fool.

5. Cao Says:
   March 20th, 2006 at 6:05 am

   Just exercising my ability to REASON, and please leave the insults at the door on your way out.

   Go and read “Starving for a Fair Diagnosis“, the NRO piece, or go over to the Code Blue Blog and read the physician’s assessment of the CT Scan. Sue Bob’s Diary and The Anchoress on the reasonable conclusions drawn from that scan.

   A CT Scan isn’t even a reasonable tool to use to draw the conclusion that she’s PVS. How could they gage serial brain degeneration without serial follow-up? And by what mechanism would her brain CONTINUE to atrophy? Second, Terri’s cerebral cortex was not been replaced by fluid. That is inaccurate. The cortex is thinned and the sulci are enlarged. There is a difference.

   Third, and most importantly, given the amount of atrophy on this image I disagree with the court’s inadequately considered conclusion. And I also disagree with the autopsy which was doctored in favor of what Cranford and Michael had said.

   Hammersfehl spent more time with her than any of the supposed “experts” on the “right to die side”, and further, Dr. Cranford can find PVS in just about anyone.

   Judge Greer was obviously impressed by Cranford’s résumé: Cranford travels throughout the country testifying in cases involving PVS and brain impairment. He is widely recognized by courts as an expert in these issues, and in some circles is considered “the” expert on PVS. His clinical judgment has carried the day in many cases, so it is relevant to examine the manner in which he arrived at his judgment in Terri’s case. But before that, one needs to know a little about Cranford’s background and perspective: Dr. Ronald Cranford is one of the most outspoken advocates of the “right to die” movement and of physician-assisted suicide in the U.S. today.

   In published articles, including a 1997 op-ed in the Minneapolis–St. Paul Star Tribune, he has advocated the starvation of Alzheimer’s patients. He has described PVS patients as indistinguishable from other forms of animal life.

   He has said that PVS patients and others with brain impairment lack personhood and should have no constitutional rights. Perusing the case literature and articles surrounding the “right to die” and PVS, one will see Dr. Cranford’s name surface again and again. In almost every case, he is the one claiming PVS, and advocating the cessation of nutrition and hydration.

   In the cases of Paul Brophy, Nancy Jobes, Nancy Cruzan, and Christine Busalucci, Cranford was the doctor behind the efforts to end their lives. Each of these people was brain-damaged but not dying; nonetheless, he advocated death for all, by dehydration and starvation. Nancy Cruzan did not even require a feeding tube: She could be spoon-fed. But Cranford advocated denying even that, saying that even spoon-feeding constituted “medical treatment” that could be licitly withdrawn.

   In cases where other doctors don’t see it, Dr. Cranford seems to have a knack for finding PVS. Cranford also diagnosed Robert Wendland as PVS. He did so in spite of the fact that Wendland could pick up specifically colored pegs or blocks and hand them to a therapy assistant on request. He did so in spite of the fact that Wendland could operate and maneuver an ordinary wheelchair with his left hand and foot, and an electric wheelchair with a joystick, of the kind that many disabled persons (most famously Dr. Stephen Hawking) use. Dr. Cranford dismissed these abilities as meaningless. Fortunately for Wendland, the California supreme court was not persuaded by Cranford’s assessment.

   Almost 50 neurologists all say the same thing: Terri should have been reevaluated, Terri should have been reexamined, and there are grave doubts as to the accuracy of Terri’s diagnosis of PVS. All of these neurologists are board-certified; a number of them are fellows of the prestigious American Academy of Neurology; several are professors of neurology at major medical schools.

   Terri had no “big guns” professional experts. She even have her own attorney to represent her interests, only guardians ad litem…which means Greer only heard one side of this. But then as a former member of the Suncoast hospice board, you don’t have to wonder very long what side of this argument he’s on, and that is a conflict of interest as far as I’m concerned.

   Interesting, the money used for those “experts” came out of the fund Michael won in a malpractice suit for her rehabilitation when he was her “loving husband” and wanted to rehabilitate her. All that changed after he received his money…then he started using that money, with the approval of the courts, to murder her. His change of heart is what caused the Schindler’s to stand up for their daughter. Suddenly, after he received that money, he “remembered” that she said she wouldn’t want to live that way. But this isn’t about what Terri wants, this is about what MICHAEL WANTS. Take a look at the bone scan. Dr. Hammesfahr and Michael Baden have both said her neck injury and brain injury is due to attempted strangulation. This is nothing more than premeditated murder, and now it’s court-sanctioned. He’s not interested in her welfare, obviously, he’s already gone on with his life with another relationship that has already produced 2 children. A guardian is supposed to stand up for the ward. He has not done this. Repeatedly, he has abused his authority as her guardian.

   The guy can’t have it both ways. Either he’s Terri’s loving husband, or he’s gone on with his life. Looks to me like he just straddled the fence until Terri was dead. He wasn’t with her when the feeding tube was removed, he was on TV, talking about how terrible everyone is for not letting him kill his wife and sticking their noses in it. But this isn’t just about Terri, this could be about YOU. Or ME. This is the euthanasia test case, and it looks like it’s successful. This is going to change everything for handicapped people across the country. Killing the “inconvenient” has been quietly going on for a long time, this case will make lawful and legitimate. It’s a crime, and it’s murder.

6. Cao Says:
   March 20th, 2006 at 6:21 am

   Terri Schiavo’s AUTOPSY REPORT was released on June 15, 2005. It confirmed that there was NO evidence Terri Schiavo ever had an eating disorder or a heart attack.

   NBC’s Mark Potter reported:

   “Terri Schiavo’s autopsy shows she was severely and irreversibly brain-damaged, and found no evidence that she was strangled or abused before she collapsed.”

   (Quote source: Schiavo autopsy shows irreversible brain damage) [bold emphasis added]

   Autopsy Results: No Surprise to Michael Schiavo’s Attorneys

   Terri’s autopsy report came as no surprise to Michael Schiavo’s attorneys because they informed the public of the autopsy results months before it was completed:

   His lawyers have said an autopsy will show that Terri did not retain enough brain matter to be conscious of her surroundings and that there are no indications that she was ever physically abused. [bold emphasis added]

   (Quote source: On Law: Caution in a post-Schiavo World)

   I don’t suppose you find that even a tiny bit suspicious?

   
   Physician Who Examined Schiavo for Over 10 Hours–Critical of Autopsy Report 6/20/05

   We have seen a lot on the autopsy of Terri Schindler Schiavo in recent days, that I feel needs to be addressed. To ignore these comments will allow future “Terri Schiavo’s” to die needlessly after the wishes of clinicians and family are ignored.

   Considering that there were so many physicians and therapists who were willing to step forward to treat Terri Schiavo, from university based practitioners to those in private practice, it clearly shows that the mainstream medical community across the board, those involved in treating patients, knew that they could help Terri.

   The record must be set straight. As we noted in the press, there was no heart attack, or evident reason for this to have happened (and certainly not of Terri’s making).

   Unlike the constant drumbeat from the husband, his attorneys, and his doctors, the brain tissue was not dissolved, with a head of just spinal fluid. In fact, large areas were “relatively preserved.”

   The purpose of the therapies offered by so many, from major universities, brain injury centers, and from private practice physicians, is to improve and restore quality of life, and function, which the mainstream medical community clearly tried to get to her.

   I have had a chance to look at Dr. Nelson’s analysis of the brain tissue, and essentially, as a clinician, these are my thoughts.

   The autopsy results confirmed my opinion and Dr. Maxfield’s opinions, that the frontal areas of the brains, the areas that deal with awareness and cognition were relatively intact. To use Dr. Nelson’s words, “relatively preserved.” In fact, the relay areas from the frontal and front temporal regions of the brain, to the spinal cord and the brain stem, by way of the basal ganglia, were preserved, thus the evident responses which she was able to express to her family and to the clinicians seeing her or viewing her videotape. The Spect scan confirmed these areas were functional and not scar tissue, and that was apparently also confirmed on Dr. Nelson’s review of the slides. Dr. Maxfield’s estimates of retained brain weight were apparently accurate, although there may have been some loss of brain weight due to the last two weeks of dehydration.

   Dr. Maxfield and myself both emphasized that she was a woman trapped in her body, similar to a child with cerebral palsy, and that was born out by the autopsy, showing greater injury in the motor and visual centers of the brain. Obviously, the pathologists comments that she could not see were not borne out by reality, and thus his assessment must represent sampling error. The videotapes clearly showed her seeing, and even Dr. Cranfoed, for the husband, commented to her that, when she could see the balloon, she could follow it with her eyes as per his request.

   That she could not swallow was obviously not borne out by the reality that she was swallowing her saliva, about 1.5 liters per day of liquid, and the clinical swallowing tests done by Dr. Young and Dr. Carpenter. Thus, there appears to be some limitations to the clinical accuracy of an autopsy in evaluating function.

   With respect to the issue of trauma, that certainly does not appear to be answered adequately. Some of the types of trauma that are suspected were not adequately evaluated in this assessment. Interestingly, both myself and at least one neurologist for the husband testified to the presence of neck injuries. The issue of a forensic evaluation for trauma, is highly specialized. Hence the wish of the family to have observers which was refused by the examiner.

   Ultimately, based on the clinical evidence and the autopsy results, an aware woman was killed.

   Dr. W. Hammesfahr

   Dr. Hammesfahr’s prior report on Terri Schiavo can be found here.

   There are many people who dispute the veracity of the autopsy results. So please. Don’t make me laugh at your incoherent ramblings.

   (Also read Yahoo posts: Shopping Michael Schiavo, and Florida Governor Seeks Probe of Terri’s Collapse, Ron Panzer’s Report on Autopsy of Terri Schiavo)

   Scientology - The Secret Force Behind Terri Schiavo’s Murder? by Zen Garcia 5/20/05

   The Truth About Getting Justice For Terri 4/28/05

   Scientology’s Already Dead Doctrine: Michael Schiavo said Terri Died 15 Years Ago 4/18/05

   George Felos Recast the Holocaust and Terri’s Death in a Positive Light 4/13/05
   Everett Rice Awards Scientologists During Terri’s Death Process

   You do not need a medical examiner’s license to see that the report raises many more questions than it answers, though from the (once again) misleading media coverage, we are led to believe that the matters of Terri’s life and murder are resolved. They are not.

   Here’s a typical example from an article headlined, “No trauma before Schiavo collapse:”

   An autopsy report on a brain-damaged woman at the centre of a long legal battle in the US has shown that she suffered no trauma before her collapse.

   But on page 4 of the M.E.’s summary, what the report actually says with regard to possible strangulation is this:

   Autopsy examination of her neck structures 15 years after her initial collapse did not detect any signs of remote trauma, but, with such a delay, the exam was unlikely to show any residual neck findings.”

   Michael Schiavo and his supporters and doctors have long maintained that Terri suffered from an eating disorder. In interviews with Larry King, in countless newspaper articles over the past 15 years, and during his successful malpractice trial against Terri’s primary care physician, Michael Schiavo stressed his wife’s bulimia-related low potassium level as the cause of her initial collapse. Schiavo won $1 million in damages on the grounds that Schiavo’s obstetrician had failed to diagnose bulimia.

   Unquestioning journalists ran dozens of stories echoing the claim: “Eating disorder is real issue in Schiavo case,” “Terri’s life a lesson in dangers of bulimia,” “The lost lesson of Schiavo case: the dangers of eating disorders,” etc.

   The autopsy report spends three-and-a-half pages debunking Schiavo’s claim, as well as the related claim that she had a heart attack (or, more medically precise, myocardial infarction). But if mentioned at all, the news reports I have seen have downplayed and buried these astonishing revelations (revelations which bear directly on Schiavo’s credibility regarding his claim that Terri would have wanted to die).

   In Michael Schiavo’s favor, the autopsy report also casts doubt on the Schindler family’s long-held view that a 1991 bone scan indicated traumatic injury. The report notes that Terri had severe osteoporosis and that the bone scan findings might have also reflected “the aftermath of remote intense CPR, infection, bone turnover, artifact or intense physical therapy. In summary, any rib fractures, leg fractures, skull fractures or spine fractures that occurred concurrent with Mrs. Schiavo’s original collapse would almost certainly ahve been diagnosed in February 1990 especially with the number of phsyical exams, radiographs, and other evaluations she received in the early evolution of her care…”

   However, the report notes this caveat: “Without the orginal bone scan and radiographs from that period, no other conclusions can [be] reasonably made.”

   With regard to Terri’s alleged persistent vegetative state, most news articles inaccurately portray the report as supporting that diagnosis. But the disability rights group Not Dead Yet has it right:

   [C]ontrary to articles stating the autopsy report “supported” the diagnosis of “persistent vegetative state (PVS),” a neuropathology expert today was careful to say that PVS is a clinical diagnosis rather than a pathological one. He added that nothing in the autopsy was “inconsistent” with a PVS diagnosis.

   The real elephant in the living room, of course, is whether or not we can really know how conscious anyone labeled “PVS” really is. Several studies have revealed high misdiagnosis rates, with conscious people being mistakenly regarded as totally and irrevocably unaware.

   The autopsy also documented significant brain atrophy, and the medical panel called the damage “irreversible.”

   This is not the same as saying she had no cognitive ability.

   “It’s always seemed to us that PVS isn’t really a diagnosis; it’s a value judgment masquerading as a diagnosis,” said Stephen Drake, research analyst for Not Dead Yet, a national disability rights group that filed three amicus briefs in the case. “When it comes to the hard science, no qualified pathologist went on the record saying she couldn’t think or couldn’t experience her own death through dehydration.”

   Diane Coleman, president and founder of Not Dead Yet, agreed. “The core issues remain the same. Protection of the life and dignity of people under guardianship, and a high standard of proof in removing food and water from a person who can not express their own wishes. These are issues of great concern to the disability community - evidenced by the 26 national disability groups that spoke out in favor of saving Terri Schiavo’s life over the past few years.”

   It is not clear to me from the neuropathology report when and over what period the much-talked-about brain shrinkage occurred. I have also noticed that some are already mocking the claim that Terri recognized visitors (note that the report also does not appear to indicate when and over what period that loss of sight occurred).

   For God’s sake.

   Terri Schiavo, a profoundly disabled woman who was not terminally ill and who had an army of family members ready to care for her for the rest of her natural life, succumbed to forced dehydration at the hands of her spouse-in-name-only.

   Finally, here’s the last paragraph of the medical examiner’s report:

   It is the policy of this office that no case is ever closed and that all determinations are to be reconsidered upon receipt of credible, new information. In addition to fading memories, the 15-year survival of Mrs. Schiavo after her collapse resulted in the creation of a voluminous number of documents many of which were lost or discarded over the years. Receipt of additional information that clarifies outstanding issues may or shall cause an amendment of her cause and manner of death.

   In other words, the medical examiner has pledged to keep something rare in this still unresolved tragedy: an open mind.

7. Matt Vella Says:
   March 21st, 2006 at 10:34 am

   Perhaps you forgot that you, sir, leveled the insult first. That, along with a host of other things, makes you a hypocrite.

   The autopsy speaks for itself. Whether or not a host of other people wanted her alive, Terri did not want that.

   I say good day!!!

8. Cao Says:
   March 21st, 2006 at 2:43 pm

   really? Show me where I leveled the insult first. The generalities of which you speak are immense! “numerous other things’? What “numerous other things”? Be more specific, please, or you’ve proven your argument is merely ad hominem.

   And show me where Terry said that she wanted to die. All reports indicate that she wanted to live, including the fact that she lived a full 13 days after they pulled her feeding tube.

   If she wanted to die, I’m sure she wouldn’t have fought to live…and would have succumbed far earlier. Perhaps even after her husband had that experimental device planted into her brain.

   You surely don’t expect me to believe the hogwash that you’re saying now, do you? Particularly when it’s not backed up by links such as those that I have so considerately provided to back up my statements? Considering all the documentation there is to the contrary?

   It seems as though your argument is getting more and more flimsy by the minute, and you can’t see that. If that’s a perceived insult, then so be it; you’re not seeing that which is put right in front of you. That’s what I call blind moonbattery!:razz::razz::razz::razz::razz:

   Yes, the autopsy raises more questions than it answers!

9. Matt Vella Says:
   March 22nd, 2006 at 2:36 am

   “Blind moonbatty”. There’s no fool like an old fool, and you are a prime example.

   You called me disgusting in your first response, which, last I checked, was not a compliment.

   As far as my argument getting flimsy, I stand by my original statement. Read the autopsy (if you’re capable of it).

   Terri’s death is just one of many, many deaths of debilitated people. Hers was well publicized by a manipulative family, media and government to their own ends rather than out of any concern over Terri. Just like what you’re doing.

10. Cao Says:
    April 1st, 2006 at 6:55 am

    MOONBATTERY. Can’t you spell?

    You don’t find it disgusting to call a living breathing person who is fully capable of communicating and tracking things with her eyes ‘meat on a slab’?

    Apparently not, but I am fully entitled to my opinion, that’s what this blog is for–MY OPINION. So sod off, swampy~

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