[Gathnet] Re: [Apologetics] Terri's last words

[Jacqueline Rae Gathman]

Stuart.
    Here's a couple extra thoughts.  First of all you asserted that her 
feeding tube insertion caused her not to be able to speak her simple 
words .  A feeding tube does not prevent speaking.  I have had patients 
with nasogastric (through the nose into esophagus) feeding tubes in whom 
had full speaking ability & could swallow during the therapy exercises 
we did.  Terri's tube is a PEG which is inserted surgically though her 
 abdominal wall & thus would have no effect on her speaking ability.   I 
don't completely understand why MS had the feeding tube placed & then 
said she should be NPO (nothing by mouth) but I do know that sometimes 
people as disabled as Terri, while they might be able to swallow & eat 
some, cannot eat quickly enough due to limited oral muscle skills to 
reasonably be fed by nursing staff.  There was a similar imfamous case 
at the Missouri Rehab Center when I worked there, Christine Bussalachi 
(sp?), whom I observed during Speech Tx for her swallowing & although 
she could swallow soft foods, you would still have to be cautious about 
how she was fed to prevent possible aspiration (food going down the 
windpipe) & her chewing skills were slow so feeding her by hand, while 
possible & could be done at least in a limited way for her own enjoyment 
of food, would not be practical to get in her entire nutritional needs. 
 In most centers you would have to hire a private aid to feed someone 
like that almost constantly to get in their nutritional requirements & 
even then a patient would get fatigued if they are struggling with oral 
motor skills.  Obviously MS didn't hire a private aid to feed Terri but 
if she was able to swallow at least thickened liquid type diet, I think 
that Judge Greer should have allowed her family to offer that when the 
tube was pulled.  
    I agree that MS has been over demonized.  I have seen sites that say 
there are court records that the Schindlers actually encouraged him to 
date again with the hope of estranging him from Terri so they could have 
guardianship.  I've read things that say that MS for the first few years 
did provided thearpy for his wife, flying her to CA for experimental 
treatment, hiring private nurses to give her extra cognitive 
stimulation, agressivie Speech & physical therapy, etc.  Perhaps when he 
saw that all that wasn't giving him back his wife in a functional 
capacity he then decided it was time to stop trying.  Maybe he said to 
himself "I didn't give up on Terri & have tried everything but it seems 
hopeless.  She wouldn't want to continue to live this way"  He's 
certainly had a lot of doctors tell him it's hopeless.  Maybe he really 
thinks he is doing the noble thing.  I vehemently disagree but with our 
culture as it is now, I can see how he would think that.  No matter what 
his motives though, we need to pray for him too, that God would soften 
his heart, that he would see the truth, that he too would be saved.  God 
loves him & Judge Greer just as much as Terri.  BTW, I just read that 
Greer is a moderate Republican & southern Baptist.  Mind Boggling.  
    I think if anything from this situation  can be taken for good is 
that it shows a glaring need for state law to change & protect people 
with need for feeding tubes.  The Nancy Cruzan case caused Feeding tubes 
to be declared as a medical treatment rather than just meeting a basic 
need.  Alabama has a law being debated on this now, I think to the 
effect that a F T can't be removed if the patient's wishes have not been 
clearly expressed in writing.  It's a very complex issue though & the 
public needs education on care of severly disabled people needing help 
to receive food & water vs people with terminal illnesses at the end 
stages no longer requiring or processing nutrition.  It really gets me 
that the same people who say Terri has no cognition or ability to feel 
pain also talk about how dehydration puts you into a state of euphoria.
    Here are a couple of sites I thought interesting.  One is satire, 
 the other is a more complete time history of the case.
    I just now got your latest email.  My soapbox in this case is that 
brain functioning research is still in it's infancy.  We know a lot more 
that when I was in school studying about strokes, TBI, etc, but we still 
really don't really know everything about brain functioning especially 
in brain injury.  Doctors are completely baffled by cases where people 
wake up from 20 year comas or make any sort of recovery like that woman 
who recently started speaking 16 years after being hit by a car.  When I 
was in school, it was thought that a stroke patient only benefits from 
therapy for about the  1st 6 months following injury (and at that time 
there were many doctors that called speech therapy for stroke patients 
"hocus pocus"). Now it is known that patients can benefit from therapy 
even years after the incident, albeit, more slowly.  
    Oh well enough of my ramblings.

Jacqui

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/069216.php
http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/infopage.html
Stuart D. Gathman wrote:

>On Fri, 25 Mar 2005, Dianne Dawson wrote
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>>And, of course, since MM won't allow any type of recording device there is no
>>way to know what she did or didn't say. - Dianne
>>    
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>It seems that Terri's father managed to have one on his person for his visit
>on Friday, after her tube was disconnected.  Honestly, I can see why 
>the opposition calls it "involuntary moans".  But judge for yourself:
>
>http://rightmarch.com/media/terri-friday.mp3
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