Con

“Terri is not ‘brain dead,’ as headlines and news stories describe her. In fact, 14 independent medical professionals (six of them neurologists) have given either statements or testimony that Terri is not in a persistent vegetative state. Her family foundation website notes that she ‘responds to stimuli, tries to communicate verbally, follows limited commands, laughs or cries in interaction with loved ones, physically distances herself from irritating or painful stimulation, and watches loved ones as they move around her. None of these behaviors are simple reflexes and are, instead, voluntary and cognitive. Though Terri has limitations, she does interact purposely with her environment.’

Terri is not on life-support systems, such as a respirator, which could be construed as ‘over-zealous’ treatment, disproportionate to the expected outcome. She does have a gastric feeding tube, which is connected only at meal times. But the existence of a feeding tube does not magically metamorphose Terri from a human to a ‘houseplant,’ which is what Michael’s lawyer and euthanasia advocate, George Felos, compared her to…

The February 8 issue of Neurology published a study that measured the brain activity of patients in a ‘minimally conscious state’ (MCS). The study showed that severely brain-damaged patients, although they can’t follow simple instructions or even communicate, may retain at least some ‘cognitive function.’ According to a New York Times article, Dr. Joseph Fins, who is chief of the medical ethics division of the New York Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center, cited research indicating that nearly a third of persons diagnosed with PVS were really ‘minimally conscious’…

Dr. Richard Neubauer, medical director of the Ocean Hyperbaric Neurologic Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, filed an affidavit rendering his medical opinion that Terri Schiavo was neither ‘brain dead’ nor in a ‘persistent vegetative state’… Dr. Neubauer, who has predicted that Terri could improve given proper hyperbaric therapy, has successfully treated brain-injured patients.”

Apr. 4, 2005