JimH wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

How many perspectives can there be when all the brain above the stem is
gone?

Sciavo's injury deprived the brain of oxygen. For 15 years! The stem,
at the base of the brain, controls heart and respiratory functions and
can initiate some reflexive motions. There is no capacity for thought,
for emotion, or for learning. Few people would ever look at Terri S and
say, "Please leave me in that condition for as long as I can hang on if
I ever suffer the same fate." There has been testimony from several
people that before the accident Terri had expressed a preference for
death vs. life as a vegetable if she was ever in the state that she is
in now.

Sciavo's parents may be like the retired folks we all know who turn a
household pet into a surrogate child or grandchild. Referrring to
thenselves as the dog's "Mom" or "Dad", dressing it up in goofy
clothes, and organizing daily life around its every need doesn't change
the basic fact that the dog is a dog. A dog has far more cognitive
ability than Terri Sciavo's breathing corpse has now, or will ever have
in the future.

If a miracle worker walked into her hospital room, healed her severed
spine, and turned the fluid in her skull back into functioning brain
cells she'd recover. Short of that, nothing could be done. Couldn't the
same thing be said about every one of he hundreds of thousands of
people in the same or similar situation every year? Should we keep
everybody in a persistant vegetative state and with no (reasonable)
hope of recovery alive forever, wishing and hoping for a miracle?



Did you listen to the interviews?

No one can say for sure what her mental condition is. And there are now
many questions about Michael Shiavo's past treatment of Terri.

One has to err on the side of life when dealing with human life.



That's why Bush and DeLay passed a law in Texas giving hospitals the
right to "pull the plug" when things look hopeless (and parents have run
out of money)

"Texas law allows hospitals to discontinue life-sustaining treatment,
even if a patient's family members disagree, under certain circumstances.

Under the statute, "Life-sustaining treatment" means treatment that,
based on reasonable medical judgment, sustains the life of a patient and
without which the patient will die. The term includes both
life-sustaining medications and artificial life support, such as
mechanical breathing machines, kidney dialysis treatment, and artificial
nutrition and hydration. [V.T.C.A., Health & Safety Code § 166.002]

Under the law, "A patient's inability to pay for medical care combined
with a prognosis that renders further care futile are two reasons a
hospital might suggest cutting off life support". Chief medical officer
at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Houston.

Last week, Sun, the 17-pound, nearly 6-month-old son of Wanda Hudson was
allowed to die in Houston's Texas Children's Hospital. Sun's death marks
the first time a U.S. judge has allowed a hospital to discontinue an
infant's life-sustaining care against a parent's wishes, according to
bioethical experts.

Another case involving a patient on life support — a 68-year-old man in
a chronic vegetative state whose family wants to stop St. Luke's
Episcopal Hospital from turning off his ventilator — is pending in Houston.

This statute was signed into law by then-governor George W. Bush.
Houston is in the Congressional District of GOP Whip Tom Delay. The same
Tom Delay who was the point man for the special law passed on behalf of
Terri Schiavo."