BBC
Vegetative patient communicates to doctors: I’m not in pain
Scott Routley’s parents say they always thought he was conscious and could communicate by lifting a thumb or moving his eyes. But this has never been accepted by medical staff.
Prof Bryan Young at University Hospital, London – Mr Routley’s neurologist for a decade – said the scan results overturned all the behavioural assessments that had been made over the years.
“I was impressed and amazed that he was able to show these cognitive responses. He had the clinical picture of a typical vegetative patient and showed no spontaneous movements that looked meaningful.”
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Tears for Terri Schiavo
HotAirian on November 13, 2012 at 1:53 PM
Terry Schiavo says FU to the Judge and her former husband. But, but, the science is settled say the smart people. Hope she sees her parents in heaven.
sheikh of thornton on November 13, 2012 at 1:53 PM
Can you even imagine? Knowing they were killing you? I hope Terry Schiavo’s husband has many sleepless nights
djl130 on November 13, 2012 at 1:56 PM
And how much more horrific does the Schiavo case seem now? When will we realize that science is not exhaustive knowledge?
John_Locke on November 13, 2012 at 1:56 PM
I thought this was another article about Ed and Newt on immigration
faraway on November 13, 2012 at 1:56 PM
OT: The Brits refuse to deport that terrorist, Abu Qatada, has been released on bail and is back to living high off the British taxpayer.
Blake on November 13, 2012 at 1:59 PM
To all the morons making Schiavo comparisons:
Terry’s brain scan showed she was GONE.
A similar scan of Mr.Routley will show he is not.
MelonCollie on November 13, 2012 at 2:04 PM
Nessuno on November 13, 2012 at 2:04 PM
Lucky for him he’s in Canada and not the UK or he would have been dead years ago.
NavyMustang on November 13, 2012 at 2:04 PM
Why read a medical story about a medical condition and think it applies to EVERY person with that condition? Can you not fathom that this patient’s brain MRI probably looks a lot different that Schiavo’s, which showed her brain matter had liquified in areas?
Marcus on November 13, 2012 at 2:05 PM
I find it morbidly ironic that our advances in medical technology are actually creating more ethical dilemmas.
MelonCollie on November 13, 2012 at 2:05 PM
Yes! Thank you! Someone else who gets it!
MelonCollie on November 13, 2012 at 2:06 PM
“He told us to pull the plug! Honest he did!”
CurtZHP on November 13, 2012 at 2:09 PM
She received speech and occupational therapy. Not possible in true vegetative cases you are trying to attribute to her..
HotAirian on November 13, 2012 at 2:13 PM
Swimming in denial.
Her brain had literally turned to mush. Whatever ‘therapy’ she was put though was pointless.
MelonCollie on November 13, 2012 at 2:16 PM
In November, Michael Schiavo took her to the University of California, San Francisco for experimental nerve stimulation – the Thalamic stimulator. The treatment took several months but was unsuccessful. He returned to Florida with her in January 1991 and admitted her as an inpatient to the Mediplex Rehabilitation Center in Bradenton, Florida. While there, he later said that he often took “her to parks and public places in hopes of sparking some recovery.” On July 19, 1991, Terri Schiavo was transferred to the Sabal Palms Skilled Care Facility, where she received neurological testing and regular speech and occupational therapy until 1994
HotAirian on November 13, 2012 at 2:20 PM
Because brain scans are infallable? Because we know everything there is to know about the mind? Reality based!
sheikh of thornton on November 13, 2012 at 2:28 PM
The autopsy on Schiavo showed that significant portions of her brain had atrophied and liquified. Which confirmed what her scans showed.
She wasn’t going to have a miraculous recovery, she wasn’t going to ever respond to treatment, and any of the therapy they gave her was wasted.
You can have a discussion about the morality of euthanasia if you want and how it relates to this story, but the Schiavo case was very different than what they are showing here.
PetecminMd on November 13, 2012 at 2:38 PM
I read all these posts about hoping the husband feels guilt etc etc. Liberals do not think like that. They are not tortured by these decisions. They don’t worry. They are certain in their rectitude. They aren’t like a conservative, there’s nothing to worry about or think about or consider. In their minds, suppose they were wrong, does a life trapped in a bed unable to communicate have any value? No, to them it doesn’t, so even if they were wrong about the level of cognition, it’s irrelevant. Same with babies in the womb. There is no ‘thought’ or quality of life there. The baby knows nothing and nothing different than the nothing, so there’s nothing to feel bad about in ending the life. Liberalism does not consider life in the same way that a conservative does.
Even after birth, liberal mothers are more willing to go back to work and less tortured about it. Their self-ness is more important than their child’s wellbeing.
Assisted suicide is another example – the value of the life lies in the ability to express and enjoy, not to be loved and love.
Liberalism even views love differently, as the physical component is far more valuable than the spiritual. Liberals are far more likely to get divorced over a bad sex life than conservatives.
Anyways, you can hope that Terry Schiavo’s husband will think about this, but he won’t. It is completley irrelevant to him and he will sleep fine and face no guilt whatsoever.
WashingtonsWake on November 13, 2012 at 2:41 PM
Did you watch that short vid at the link?
I know nil about the the tech from which conclusions are reached on brain deadness, but it seems to me the right brain is clearly dead. The question wrt Schiavo is what her brain looked like relative to the three in the vid and I’ve never seen one produced which would cut through everyone’s verbal descriptions of her brain.
Has anyone else seen one?
Dusty on November 13, 2012 at 2:50 PM
Unless it’s AGW or evolution because that science is settled.
Frank Enstine on November 13, 2012 at 2:53 PM
Schiavo’s brain scans looked more like the scan on the far right in the video, but as two darkened hemispheres and with medial longitudinal fissure still recognizable.
They could only do CAT scans on Schiavo because of stimulating electrodes that were implanted in her head. MRIs would have been useless because of them.
PetecminMd on November 13, 2012 at 2:59 PM
Thanks for that info. It would be interesting to see a vid like the one at the link using CAT scans or one comparing the two different methods so as to know how each method compares to each other.
Dusty on November 13, 2012 at 3:31 PM
The fatal flaw of certainty.
squint on November 13, 2012 at 4:52 PM
Did she respond to it?
DarkCurrent on November 13, 2012 at 8:08 PM