You have questions, I have answers:
When Terri was taken to the hospital at the beginning, did anyone consider the possibility of foul play? Her husband Michael Schiavo’s is the only account of what happened before he called 911. A bone scan in 1991 found evidence of past trauma, and there’s more than one way for a woman to be deprived of oxygen Incidentally, Michael Schiavo is 6′ 6″ and 250 lbs.
Who knows if anyone considered foul play? Who cares? There is complete consensus by everyone involved in the medical community involved in this case that the reason Terry Schiavo is in this state is due to a severe potassium imbalance brought on my bulimia, which caused a heart attack, which then caused hypoxic brain damage. A bone scan could turn up other evidence of past trauma due to any number of things, including, say, hitting your head when you fell while having a heart attack.
Speculating about past trauma when there is no reason to is nothing more than attempting to villify Michael Schiavo, and you know it. Otherwise, you and others would quit mentioning Schiavo’s height and weight- which we all know has loads to do with the level of potassium in Terry Schiavo.
This is nothing more than a red herring, and a particularly vicious one.
I’ve read that Michael Schiavo wants to cremate her immediately after she dies. Why? Why not have an autopsy?
Because an autopsy is used to determine cause of death. If Terry Schiavo’s feeding tube is removed, and she dies of dehydration, I can tell you the cause of death without one incision. Quick- I bet you can figure out the cause of death, too! Pat yourself on the back if you said ‘dehydration.’
Again, this is a red herring, designed to imply that Michael is somehow to blame for condition, which, as we have discussed in great detail, was caused by a heart attack due to her bulimia.
Similarly, why not have an MRI? A group of neurologists has written that that such testing would be expected in the normal ourse of a diagnosis of “persistent vegetative state”
Because there is no point:
Most of the affidavits mention sophisticated new neuroimaging techniques which have been developed since the 1996 exams, and recommend that Schiavo receive a functional MRI (which tracks blood flow in the brain in response to specific stimuli) or a neuroSPECT exam (another functional imaging test). They note, correctly, that functional tests are capable of providing much more information about the nature and extent of brain damage than structural tests like a CAT scan. Yet Terri Schiavo’s cerebral cortex is not damaged, it is absent. The affidavits repeatedly fail to engage with this finding. Thus, we have Dr. Ankerman: “The long duration lack of speech seen after injury trauma is not always due to destruction of brain structure. Sometimes it is due to a state of brain dysfunction that is reversible.” Dr. Uszler: “Standard MRI or CAT scans are anatomy scans; they tell you if the tissue is there and its current structure, but these tests do not tell you whether the brain is working.” And, most incredibly, Dr. Terman: “If the results of her response to certain neurological tests, for example the fMRI, were similar to that of normal individuals with undamaged brains, such data might indicate that there is some potential for her rehabilitation.”
I suppose that these statements are technically true. Speechlessness is not always due to destruction of brain structure, but if massive destruction of brain structure is present, that’s certainly the way to bet. CAT scans tell you if tissue is present and structured normally, but not if it’s working; however, if tissue is absent, you’d think its lack of functionality could be assumed. And yes, if Terri had the same fMRI results as a healthy person, that would bode well for rehabilitation – but as we sometimes say here at Respectful of Otters, it’s equally true that if my aunt had testicles, she’d be my uncle. Terri Schiavo doesn’t have a cerebral cortex. She’s not going to have a normal fMRI pattern. She simply couldn’t. So it’s pointless to speculate about what it would mean if she did.
A group of neurosurgeons has signed a letter saying that a diagnosis of PVS is not warranted despite testimony from doctors at earlier trials. The reasons which could ultimately amount to pettifoggery – from what I’ve seen it seems likely that as the expression goes, the lights are on but no one’s home. But I would expect a court to impose a high burden of proof on those who are advocating an irreversible result like death, especially when her parents are willing to take her over. If the diagnoses were not per standards of the neurological profession, IMO the court failed in its fact-finding function and maybe some professionals need to be disciplined.
The nuerosurgeons in question have not examined Mrs. Schiavo:
None of the 17 affidavits are by providers who examined Schiavo. Only one of the 17 providers claims to have reviewed her medical records. The remaining 16 providers apparently based their statements primarily on six snippets of videotape, totalling 4 minutes and 20 seconds, which have been posted on Schiavo’s parents’ website and broadcast repeatedly on the news. Several of them explicitly say that they viewed these clips on the net, and the others all refer to the same short samples of behavior (e.g., Schiavo’s eyes tracking a balloon). Many of them say they read news stories about Schiavo. One admits to only seeing news stories and photographs. They all reference their experience with “similar patients,” but without qualifying what they mean by “similar.” For example, one doctor draws comparisons to catatonic patients – but catatonia simply refers to an absence of voluntary motion or interaction, and can be caused by any number of things. Another references stroke patients, and two more talk about patients with Alzheimer’s.
More here.
Near as I can tell, no one said anything about Terri Schiavo’s desire to die until after Michael Schiavo received a malpractice settlement, and those are Michael Schiavo and two of his relatives. Her own relatives say otherwise. Whatever MS’s rights as husband might be, how is it that the court determined who was telling the truth, if anyone? (sheesh, has everyone talked about this?).
The court document is here.
As her husband, absent the claim about her wishes, he could have decided to pull the plug on her anyway, right? The advantage of claiming that she wanted to die shortly after the settlement arrived would be that he would have cover to put her down sooner, laving more of her treatment money for him to use for his own purposes. It would look cynical if not suspicious if he decided to off her right away. In fact, I understand he’s spent about $300K of the $700K awarded for her care on lawyers and has withheld physical therapy on numerous occasions.
Other than the fact that this is just disgusting- accusing this man of wanting to kill his wife for a paltry sum of money after standing by her for a number of years, the simple fact of the matter is there is no money there:
1992, Terri was awarded nearly one million dollars by a malpractice jury and an out-of-court malpractice settlement which was designated for future medical expenses. Of these funds, less than $50,000 remains today.
This isn’t about money. This is about his wife’s wishes.
The court that found medical malpractice conclude that she was viable enough to be worthy of a $700K award for her care. But judging by how long Michael Schiavo has been trying to withhold life support and other care, she’s allegedly been beyond help for years. What has changed about her health since the original malpractice settlement? If there have been changes, can it be traced to Michael Schiavo’s supervision of her care? (incidentally, he got a $300K award for loss of consortium)
You are just making things up here. In no way would a finding of guilt in a malpractice case be contingent upon how viable the damaged party is for treatment. Have there been changes? Not really, but that is where medical gets in the way again- she is never going to grow back her cerebral cortex, and the idea of rehab is a canard. All that is really possible is to remain the way she is- and note, I have avoided using the word comfortable.
Terri Schiavo can not feel pain, understand pain, feel or experience pleasure, comfort, etc. She has no capacity to do so. Period. Here is a rundown of some of the possible ‘rehab’ she has cruelly been denied:
What about the “new treatments” which might help Schiavo? Many of the providers assert that she could be trained to swallow, and they’re probably correct. Swallowing is a brainstem reflex, and Schiavo still has her brainstem. The muscles of her throat could be stimulated – Mr. Lakas suggests using electric shock – to produce an automatic swallowing response to liquid nutrition. It’s hard to see how that would amount to an increase in quality of life, however, given the mechanical nature of the reflex and the likely increased risk of choking or aspiration pneumonia. What else? One of the doctors (Ankerman, again) recommends the off-label use of an Alzheimer’s drug, based on unpublished anecdotal evidence that it helps catatonic patients (not patients in a persistent vegetative state). Another recommends hyperbaric therapy, about which the trial court judge had previously pointed out, “It is interesting to note the absence of any [published] case studies since this therapy is not new and this condition has long been in the medical arena.”
The other two quesitons I can’t answer, other than to suggest that Michael is very bitter towards the Shindlers. Who can blame him?