Terry Schiavo was unavailable for comment

[Yonivore]

Signs of life: brain-damaged woman stuns doctors with her tennis skills

The brain scan study of the 23-year-old, who suffered serious brain damage in a traffic accident, suggests that some seemingly unaware patients may understand more than had been thought.

The findings could have a big impact on decisions about whether to switch off life support for those in a persistent vegetative state.

Adrian Owen, of the British Medical Research Council's cognition and brain sciences unit in Cambridge, said the vegetative state, in which a patient emerges from a coma and appears awake but shows no signs of awareness, was poorly understood.

"It is one of the most ethically troublesome conditions in modern medicine," he said.

Michael Schiavo, on the other hand, was overheard to exclaim, "Whew! Dodged that one."

[Goliadnative]

Here's another one.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...rainshock.html

[Zunni]

Not that she could have commented anyway....

[Yonivore]

Not that she could have commented anyway....

Maybe not today...but, how 'bout a few years from now? That is, if she hadn't been murdered.

[boutons_]

There is a huge range of brain damage.

Given how costly and open-ended the care is, I figure the type of analysis done on Owen will become more common.

Everyone should have a legal do ent spelling out exactly how they want one's own case handled.

[Zunni]

Maybe not today...but, how 'bout a few years from now? That is, if she hadn't been murdered.

She wasn't murdered. Nothing that was done was against the law, and every level of court had their shot at this. They all agreed that Michael had the say and the authority to decide. It's funny that the Fundies are all about the sanc y of marriage and the bond between a man and a woman...right up to the point that someone does something they disagree with. Phucking Pharisees.

Yoni not agreeing = drama.

[Yonivore]

She wasn't murdered. Nothing that was done was against the law, and every level of court had their shot at this. They all agreed that Michael had the say and the authority to decide. It's funny that the Fundies are all about the sanc y of marriage and the bond between a man and a woman...right up to the point that someone does something they disagree with. Phucking Pharisees.

Yoni not agreeing = drama.

Murder? Euthenized? Mercy Killing? She was alive and then she was dead -- because of the actions of someone other than herself. What do you call it? It's not suicide. It's not an accident. It's not even an illness. It's starvation. A preventable cause of death -- easily preventable, I add. They call the treatment, now get this, food.

[RobinsontoDuncan]

yoni did you know her cerebral cord and most of her brain tissue was fluid? she was never going to retain consciousness.

[sabar]

Murder is the unlawful killing of another human, sorry.
The most you can say is that it is homicide. But then so is capital punishment, war, self-defense, necessity, euthanasia, use of deadly force by police, and so forth.

You can't argue on the grounds of semantics unless you are also going to abolish the death penalty, make self-defense illegal, be against euthanasia, and only allow non-lethal force by the police.

A better arguement?
Consent. Unfortunately the blame lies on the families. You should CLEARLY state WELL in advance of your death how you want to be treated.

[George W Bush]

I'm Pro-Death.

[velik_m]

Murder? Euthenized? Mercy Killing? She was alive and then she was dead -- because of the actions of someone other than herself. What do you call it? It's not suicide. It's not an accident. It's not even an illness. It's starvation. A preventable cause of death -- easily preventable, I add. They call the treatment, now get this, food.

Was she alive? Giving that there is no clear cut definition of life, how can we tell?

Further more many people (christians for example) belive that we are immortal. How can we kill that, which is immortal?