Mom fights Texas hospital’s removal of food and water from 12-year-old son

Zach McDaniel suffered a severe head injury two weeks ago when he was caught in the crossfire of an alleged drug dispute in Abilene, Texas. He was placed on life support under heavy sedation at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth. McDaniel has been heavily sedated and reportedly has yet to regain consciousness, but was able to breathe on his own when the ventilator was removed.

Texas Right to Life Legislative Director John Seago told LifeSiteNews.com that Cook doctors had begun pressuring McDaniel’s family to consider allowing the boy’s organs to be removed only hours after his brain surgery commenced. But it was when Zach’s family was told in a possible miscommunication that part of his brain was missing - a fact later contradicted by brain imagery - that they became suspicious, Seago said, and “started slowing down the organ donation conversation.”

Responding to Patients in the Persistent Vegetative State - an ethical and legal dilemma

Responding to Patients in the Persistent Vegetative State - an ethical and legal dilemma, by Donel O'Mathuna: There is naturally some alienation between us and those in conditions we do not experience or understand. This is very pronounced with those in PVS. But we can alienate them even more when we classify them abstractly. Even the word "vegetative" in PVS alienates them from us. God has reached across the alienation between us and him. We are similarly called to reach out to the strangers of the world, even those around whom we feel uncomfortable (2 Cor 5:16-21). As we attempt to image him truthfully, we ought to reach across the barriers to those in PVS. Our concern should be how we can act as neighbors towards these patients who are strangers to us in profound ways. In doing so, we may be surprised that they respond more like an image of God than our abstract speculation might predict.

For example, when PVS patients in one nursing home were treated more like persons, they responded accordingly. Often the simplest things made the biggest differences. In most institutions PVS patients continually lie in bed in the same room. As the director of this home stated, "We have found that adequate seating has improved awareness and arousal. . . . Our first object is to get them sitting up. It is amazing the response this produces. Body tone improves, head control appears. They look around and may focus on objects or companions."

. . . Those of us who believe that artificially administered food and fluids should be given to PVS patients may soon be called to pay for it ourselves. The pro-life movement has realized that responding to abortion must include providing shelter and resources to those who choose to keep their babies. If death is redefined to include PVS, private funding will be needed to care for these patients. This will be the price we will pay for upholding the preciousness of all human life.

Our God is in the business of protecting and nourishing broken, discarded lives which seem to have little meaning. He can use these tragedies to let his glory shine into a dark and painful world. His images should respond likewise.

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Awakened: Immune cells revive woman in coma

Vitals - Awakened: Immune cells revive woman in coma: Researchers from the University of Munich recently reported that they were able to awaken an 82-year-old woman who’d been in a persistent vegetative state by using injections of her own immune cells. The woman, who had suffered a stroke, had been cared for at home by her family and a home health nurse -- for nine long years.

Editor: What was it, a coma or a "persistent vegetative state"? They're not the same.

Related:
The Journal of Medical Case Reports article (which explains it was a PVS after coma).
Wesley Smith commentary - Medical Morality Requires Equally Valuing Unconcious Patients

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Should Dehydration Be the Default Decision for PVS?

Should Dehydration Be the Default Decision for PVS? | The Center for Bioethics and Culture: What about the people who unexpectedly wake up? Constable says most of these weren’t truly PVS — even though some had been so diagnosed. (In fact, studies show that PVS is misdiagnosed about 40% of the time.)

But that doesn’t matter because [she says] “the new life gained” by the “miracle patient” is “far less likely to resemble what he lost than to be some state of middle consciousness;” a life “quite possibly, worse than non-existence.” Moreover, the potential benefit of living to be a miracle patient “is not sufficient to trump the public interest in allocating resources to patients more likely to benefit.” Original article

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Special treatment for Dutch royals

IBTimes: Dutch Prince Johan Friso, who was caught in an avalanche two weeks ago, was flown to a special clinic in London yesterday. Friso, who was buried in snow for 20 minutes, and had his heart stop beating for 50 minutes, has been in a coma due to major brain damage.

The Prince had been treated in an Innsbruck hospital in Austria since the accident. Doctors announced last week that they fear Friso will never wake up from the coma, and if he does, it may take years. The Royal Family released a statement yesterday stating that the hospital was chosen "on the recommendation of experts," and that it is the best facility for the Prince in his current state.

German media explained that this type of care would not have been possible in the Netherlands, because the only rehabilitation hospital, Leijpark Hospital in Tilburg, only treats patients who are younger than 25.

Related: Recent story on euthanasia in Holland

Changing tack: Withdraw food and water from PVS patients

BioEthics: Abstract -- "In the United States, the decision of whether to withdraw or continue to provide artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) for patients in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) is placed largely in the hands of surrogate decision-makers, such as spouses and immediate family members. This practice would seem to be consistent with a strong national emphasis on autonomy and patient-centered healthcare. When there is ambiguity as to the patient's advanced wishes, the presumption has been that decisions should weigh in favor of maintaining life, and therefore, that it is the withdrawal rather than the continuation of ANH that requires particular justification. 

"I will argue that this default position should be reversed. Instead, I will argue that the burden of justification lies with those who would continue artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH), and in the absence of knowledge as to the patient's advanced wishes, it is better to discontinue ANH. In particular, I will argue that among patients in PVS, there is not a compelling interest in being kept alive; that in general, we commit a worse violation of autonomy by continuing ANH when the patient's wishes are unknown; and that more likely than not, the maintenance of ANH as a bridge to a theoretical future time of recovery goes against the best interests of the patient." --Catherine Constable

National Right to Life commentary

Bedside detection of awareness in the vegetative state

Bedside detection of awareness in the vegetative state: a cohort study : The Lancet: Despite rigorous clinical assessment, many patients in the vegetative state are misdiagnosed. The EEG method developed by resesarchers is cheap, portable, widely available, and objective. It could allow the widespread use of this bedside technique for the rediagnosis of patients who behaviourally seem to be entirely vegetative, but who might have residual cognitive function and conscious awareness.

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New technique spots patients misdiagnosed as being in ‘vegetative state’

New technique spots patients misdiagnosed as being in ‘vegetative state’ - The Washington Post: As many as 20,000 Americans are in a vegetative state, meaning they are alive and awake but without any apparent sense of awareness, and 100,000 to 300,000 are in a related condition known as a minimally conscious state, in which they exhibit impaired or intermittent awareness. A growing body of evidence in recent years has indicated that a significant proportion might have more awareness than had been thought.

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Resource: Imposed Death

Articles include:

• Living Wills: Vital... or Deadly?
• What About Pain Control?
• Not Dead Yet: Support to Live, Not to Die
• Thirsty? Too Bad.
• Hospice Care: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• "Persistent Vegetative State"
• Imposed Death in the U.S.
• Are You Sure You'd Never Want to be Hooked Up to a Machine?

Download Your Copy Now

Many locked-in syndrome patients happy

The Associated Press: Many locked-in syndrome patients happy: You are awake, aware and probably unable to move or talk — but you are not necessarily unhappy, says the largest study of locked-in syndrome ever conducted. A surprising number of patients with the condition say they are happy, despite being paralyzed and having to communicate mainly by moving their eyes. Most cases are caused by major brain damage, often sustained in traumatic accidents.

If patients with locked-in syndrome are properly cared for, they can live for decades. With rehabilitation, many patients can regain some control of their head, fingers, and feet and may be able to talk a little.

EXCLUSIVE: Videos show ‘vegetable’ reacting to parents

Dying one-year-old Joseph Maraachli’s family says two new videos of him flailing and reacting to tickling belie his hospital’s claim that he is in a permanent vegetative state. The video of Joseph being tickled, which was shot Sunday evening only hours before the hospital had planned to remove his life support, also shows Joseph’s hands tied down - a measure the hospital took after Joseph removed the tube from his throat on at least two separate occasions.

“How can a baby be in a vegetative state who has his hands tied - as we speak - for him to not pull out his tube?” asked Joseph’s aunt, Samar Nader. “How does a baby in a vegetative state respond to combing or tickling? What really boggles my mind is how we’re not allowed to videotape him or have media outlets watching him to show the public what he’s like,” she added. “That’s very frustrating.” LifeSiteNews

Child With Missing Brain Shows Power of Human Spirit, Baffles Experts

A three-year-old boy has baffled doctors after he has started learning to walk, despite missing a key part of his brain. Chase Britton was born prematurely and an MRI scan at the age of one revealed he was completely missing his cerebellum – the part which controls motor skills, balance and emotions. The little boy, who is legally blind, also has no pons – part of the brain stem that regulates basic functions including breathing and sleeping.

The V-word should never be applied to any human, but that point aside, think very carefully about this story. Throughout bioethics, we have been told that anencephalic babies–that is, children without (generally different) parts of their brains (and parts of their skulls) are not “persons,” should be considered not human, should be considered as splendid sources for organ harvesting, etc. There was even an experiment in using such babies in that instrumental way. But because the principle that sick babies could be used instrumentally sunk into the heads of doctors, it had to be canceled because doctors were sending babies with other conditions to be organ suppliers. Secondhand Smoke

Stories of Hope

Research Offers New Hope to Those with Brain Injuries

Music Therapy to Help Brain Injury Patients?

Boy in Serious ATV Crash Will Be Home by Christmas

Adult Stem Cell Research Brings Encouragement to Disabled

Compound Shows Promise Against Brain Injuries

"We Now Know That The Brain Can Make New Connections"

"The Family Guy" Mocks Terri Schiavo

Near the fifth anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo, the disabled woman whose husband won a court order to take her life, the Fox program "The Family Guy" featured a satire about her. Terri's family expressed shock and sadness that Fox would allow such insensitive programming during prime time. During the program, a segment titled "Terri Schiavo: The Musical," aired. In it, Terri is mocked and her suffering ridiculed. She was portrayed as someone on a number of mechanical life support systems and referred to as a vegetable. The segment ends with characters calling for pulling the plug. LifeNews

Remembering Terri on the Fifth Anniversary of Her Death

March 18, 2005, was Day 1 of Judge George W. Greer's court ordered slow death by starvation and dehydration of Terri Schindler Schiavo. Please visit www.terrisfight.org the next two weeks where they'll post stories of the events that occurred on each of the 13 horrific days that Terri went without food or water.

The Schindlers Were Right to Insist on Tests for Terri

The family begged Judge Greer to permit sophisticated brain scanning that had never been used on her before. It couldn’t have hurt her, and it might have shown something. But stubbornly, he refused. I will go to my grave believing the judge knew what he didn’t want to know. Secondhand Smoke

Someone's there

Men and women in extremis often find themselves facing the question of life's meaning. Not all of us at the end of our life-journeys will experience epiphanies, but all of us have the potential to be so blessed. And many of us, even if immobile, physically unresponsive and without reasonable hope of recovery, might still engage most important matters — things like forgiveness, repentance, acceptance, commitment, love, God — perhaps the most momentous matters we will ever have considered over the course of our lives. Are such vital encounters worth less than running and jumping? Is ending a life of pure contemplation less objectionable that ending one that includes physical activity? JWR

Belgian coma 'writer' Rom Houben can't communicate

A Belgian man who stunned the world last year by apparently communicating after 23 years in a coma cannot in fact do so, researchers say. The doctor who believed that Rom Houben was communicating through a facilitator now says the method does not work. "The story of Rom is about the diagnosis of consciousness, not communication."

By holding Mr Houben's forearm and finger, the therapist was said to feel sufficient pressure to direct her to the correct keys on the keyboard. In a test of this procedure, objects and words were shown to Mr Houben and other patients in the absence of the facilitator who was then called back into the room. The patient was then asked to say what they had seen or heard. BBC News

Taking care of people, not problems

Thanks to a new study, we now know that our idea of what it means to be in a persistent vegetative state may be radically inaccurate. It’s entirely possible that the “professionals” that passed judgment upon Terri were wrong in their assessment of her level of awareness. But even if they weren't -- even if Terri lacked conscious awareness -- her handicap should not have resulted in the revocation of her membership in the human family.

As creatures created in God’s image our “humanity” is unalterable, even though we are subject to change. Our humanity is not contingent upon our mental or physical fitnes -- at least, it shouldn't be. We have worth, value and dignity -- not because of our capacities or achievements -- but because the Creator made us and gave Himself for us. LifeNews

'Vegetative state' man responds to questions

The finding by British and Belgian researchers has huge implications for the care and treatment of patients in a coma-like state. It comes two months after a Belgian car crash victim whose condition was misdiagnosed as a vegetative state for 23 years was revealed to have been conscious the whole time. Using a scanning technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging, the patient's brain activity was mapped while he was asked to answer "yes" or "no" to questions such as "Is your father's name Thomas?" The patient communicated answers by wilfully changing his brain activity. CNN