The Human Brain is a wonderous thing

Never underestimate its capacity

Published on February 14, 2005 By Dr Guy In Current Events

This story caught my atttention because of the Terri Schiavo case in Florida. While Doctors say there is no hope for Terry Schiavo, they also said that about this woman, and yet 20 years later, she can talk.

I understand about the frustration of waiting for years or even decades, but Terri Schiavo is breathing on her own. She only requires food to continue to live, not machines to keep her alive.

Does this mean she will ever recover? No. But while there is life, there is always hope, and that hope should not be removed by starving her to death. The Husband has lost all hope, but the parents have not. Why cant Mr. Schiavo just divorce his wife and let the parents take on the responsibility for her. It may be a pipe dream for them, but it is all they have left, and it should not be taken away from them or her due to expedience.

Comments

foreverserenity

on Feb 14, 2005

In the case of Terri Schiavo, she wasn't no is she asleep (in a coma). She's alive yes, but her brain doesn't function and will not ever function in the same capacity again. The other woman who just woke up, she was asleep. Apart from being hurt, she still has her mental faculties. With therapy and such, she will be able to recover. There in lies the difference.

But having had first hand experience, twice, with this type of issue, I can see both sides of the fence. The one fact is Terry's Schiavo's brain is dead. Her parents wants their daughter back, especially since she's their only child (?) but she was with a husband who loves her and I'm sure it's hard for him to see her like that. It's a no win situation. Having had to see my mom go through that kind of thing, it is one of the hardest decisions anyone can ever make.

Daiwa

on Feb 16, 2005

With due respect, Dr. Guy, it's not possible for you to really understand without being Terry Schiavo's husband. This is one of those tough ones, but the odds of Terry Schiavo ever "waking up" are so low as to be nearly unmeasurable. We get these occasional headlined reports of "miracles" precisely because they are so extraordinarily rare. The kind of decision that Terry Schiavo's husband has faced is a tragic one that I hate to see anyone have to make, and I would never presume to make it for him. Should I ever be so unfortunate, I would not want outside interference, and the law on who may make decisions for an incapacitated individual is pretty clear in almost all states; in this case, the spouse has sole discretion and authority. It is, and should remain, a private matter.

Cheers,
Daiwa

Dr Guy

on Feb 16, 2005

If you read the artcile, you would see that is not the point. The point is that the other woman's brain grew new pathways, so whil ethe 2 are not the same, there is hope. Minutely as it is, there is hope. Even the Doctors dont understand how she grew new pathways.

Where life exists, hope is always an option.

Dr Guy

on Feb 16, 2005

Daiwa, I do not pretend that I know how her husband feels and if that were the only factors in the equation, I would not have written this. However, there are her parents as a factor as well fighting to keep her from starving to death. IN a case like that, why cant the husband just walk away and let the parents take care of it? He loses nothing in that case. If he suceeds, then the parents have lost everything.

Daiwa

on Feb 18, 2005

Like it or not, the parents in most cases have no legal standing, only the spouse. That's the way it is, and is the reason the case got its notariety - the parents tried to assert rights they did not have. The rest of us have no business getting involved, in my opinion. We can't know if the parents are being unrealistic or the husband callous, or vice versa. Mundane & bad things outnumber the miracles on the order of millions to one, no matter how much hope one may have. Look at Chris Reeve - after all that gutty recovery and truly state-of-the-art care, he died from complications of a bedsore.

Cheers,
Daiwa

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