[lit-ideas] Re: Right to Life, Right to Die

  • From: Judy Evans <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 20:27:02 +0000

Friday, March 25, 2005, 6:29:43 PM, Robert Paul wrote:

RP> Carol Kirschenbaum wrote:

RP> Veronica, the situation is much, much more complex than you present
RP> here, though this is pretty much all the media has reported. Terri Schi=
avo
RP> did not receive the medical care or the rehabilitative care during the
RP> first
RP> few years after her injury. Indeed, the cause of her heart stopping is =
only
RP> a guess.There's no medical history of her supposed eating disorder; that
RP> was
RP> something the media seized upon over the last two years.
RP> -------------------------------------------------------
RP> Some passages relevant to this from from=20
RP> http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1351061/posts:


It isn't there, Robert. But it's at  the url I posted (which has, I
see, only just reached lit-ideas; sorry).

RP> [I would urge those whose grasp of the history of this case is mostly
RP> derived from the popular media to read this blog in its entirely.]

and whose grasp is taken from the right-wing blogs... That is, the
timeline is, and other material.



RP> [Part of a 'time line']:

RP> February 1990=85 Terri suffers cardiac arrest and a severe loss of oxyg=
en
RP> to her brain

RP> May 1990=85 Terri leaves hospital and is brought to a rehabiliation cen=
ter
RP> for aggressive therapy

RP> July 1990=85 Terri is brought to the home where her husband and parents
RP> live; after a few weeks, she is brought back to the rehabilitation cent=
er

RP> November 1990=85 Terri is taken to California for experimental therapies

RP> January 1991=85 Terri is returned to Florida and placed at a=20
RP> rehabilitation center in Brandon

RP> July 1991=85 Terri is transfered to a skilled nursing facility where she
RP> receives aggressive physical therapy and speech therapy

RP> [and]

RP> The cause of the cardiac arrest was adduced to a dramatically reduced
RP> potassium level in Theresa's body. Sodium and potassium maintain a
RP> vital, chemical balance in the human body that helps define the=20
RP> electrolyte levels. The cause of the imbalance was not clearly=20
RP> identified, but may be linked, in theory, to her drinking 10-15 glasses
RP> of iced tea each day. While no formal proof emerged, the medical records
RP> note that the combination of [Theresa's] aggressive weight loss, diet
RP> control and excessive hydration raised questions about Theresa from
RP> Bulimia, an eating disorder, more common among women than men, in which
RP> purging through vomiting, laxatives and other methods of diet control
RP> become obsessive. Also relevant to questions about the cause of Terri's
RP> collapse is the lawsuit that Michael brought on Terri's behalf against
RP> Terri's doctors. The premise of that early 1990s lawsuit was that the
RP> doctors committed malpractice by failing to diagnose Terri's bulimia and
RP> that her bulimia led to her cardiac arrest. The case was tried to a
RP> jury, which ruled in Michael's favor, finding that Terri had bulimia,
RP> that her bulimia caused her cardiac arrest, and that the doctors were
RP> negligent in failing to diagnose the situation. The verdict was=20
RP> appealed, and before the appellate court could rule, the parties=20
RP> settled, with Michael recovering approximately $750,000 for Terri and
RP> $300,000 for himself.

RP> After this case gained national attention in 2003, Gary Fox, the lawyer
RP> who represented Terri and Michael in that suit, wrote a stirring column
RP> concerning Terri's bulimia and how the tragic effects of that disease
RP> have been lost in the hoopla surrounding this case. The St. Pete Times
RP> still has that column online, and you can read it here.

RP> The significance of the medical malpractice lawsuit can be seen in a few
RP> ways. A jury agreed that bulimia caused Terri's collapse. The defendants
RP> were her doctors -- one might think that they, of all people, would have
RP> been able to show that Terri had been beaten or strangled if that was
RP> what had occurred. Also, to believe that Michael caused Terri's collapse
RP> by beating her is to believe that Michael initiated a lawsuit against
RP> someone else for causing her collapse, opening the whole matter to
RP> serious inquiry and greatly increasing the risk that someone would
RP> discover his role.

RP> [I would urge those whose grasp of the history of this case is mostly
RP> derived from the popular media to read this blog in its entirely.]

RP> Robert Paul
RP> Reed College
RP> ------------------------------------------------------------------
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--=20

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