My Apologies to CNN's Dr. Gupta-- I'm afraid I have to directly contradict him. I don't know much about neurology, but I found a study which asserts that there have been three people who recovered from PVS after being treated with the Parkinson's drug Levodopa.
There are very few medical absolutes. When I hear "always" or "never" in a medical context, I can't help remembering that in 1970 I was the smallest preemie to survive in the hospital where I was born-- I was "never" going to talk and would "always" have to be cared for by my parents. Today I am a mother, speaker and writer, I drive my own van and work full time. I've been told that I "never" shut up!
Doctors are smart, hardworking people who mean well. But they can't see the future.
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Hi Colin,
Thanks for your comment.
I appreciate your concern for the war, the civilians living in it, and the soldiers fighting it. I support the troops whether or not I agree with the policies they are ordered to carry out. In the course of carrying out those orders, many soldiers will become incapacitated.
I see the Schiavo case as a catalyst to force our nation to cope with a civil rights issue. I am fighting for Terri _and_ for every incapacitated person whose wishes are in dispute, or whose wish is to live. I believe such people must be granted the freedom to live until they die, with access to food, water, and air. My goal is to prevent doctors and hospital ethics boards from witholding treatment on the basis of value judgements-- I believe that no one can decide another human being's "personhood" or quality of life.
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