Again about the murder of Terri Schiavo.
Aug. 5th, 2005 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fpbThis story was featured on CBS - one of the media organizations most committed to the lie that Terri Schiavo was "brain dead".
Woman Details Her 20-Year Coma
NEW YORK, Aug. 4, 2005
For 20 years, Sarah Scantlin was seemingly unaware of the world around her after she was hit by a drunk driver in an accident that sent her into a comatose state in September of 1984.
Then in February, she shocked her parents and doctors when she began to speak. In her first national television interview, after undergoing surgery on her long-unused limbs and speech therapy to unlock her long-dormant tongue, Scantlin speaks with The Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith in a two-part interview to be broadcast Thursday and Friday.
Smith also speaks with Sarah's parents, Jim and Betsy Scantlin, who never imagined they would talk to their daughter again.
In a February interview on The Early Show , Sarah’s father recounted the phone call he and his wife got, informing them of the unimaginable.
"It was amazing. I'm in the living room. Betsy was in the computer area, and the phone rings ... and suddenly, I'm aware that there's a profound, distinct difference. Rather than speaking about Sarah, it became very clear she [Sarah’s nurse] was speaking to Sarah. It was the most amazing feeling in the world," he said.
The 1984 accident occurred when Scantlin was crossing the street in her hometown of Hutchinson, Kan. She suffered a massive brain injury and could not breathe on her own. Smith speaks with New York neurologist Randolph Marshall, who says that people like Scantlin rarely awake from such an injury. "You only hear about these cases very rarely and they’re always a surprise when they actually come to light," he says.
Scantlin’s speech is still limited.
However, it seems that throughout her 20-year coma, she could see, hear, and understand what was going on around her. Shortly after she awoke, her father asked what she knew about events that had occurred years earlier.
"Sarah, what's 9/11?" her father asks. She responds, "Bad…fire…airplanes…building…hurt people."
Smith says there are other things deep in Scantlin’s brain that also survived the accident, such things as her favorite 1980s song "Summer Lovin’," which she even sings for The Early Show.
Woman Details Her 20-Year Coma
NEW YORK, Aug. 4, 2005
For 20 years, Sarah Scantlin was seemingly unaware of the world around her after she was hit by a drunk driver in an accident that sent her into a comatose state in September of 1984.
Then in February, she shocked her parents and doctors when she began to speak. In her first national television interview, after undergoing surgery on her long-unused limbs and speech therapy to unlock her long-dormant tongue, Scantlin speaks with The Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith in a two-part interview to be broadcast Thursday and Friday.
Smith also speaks with Sarah's parents, Jim and Betsy Scantlin, who never imagined they would talk to their daughter again.
In a February interview on The Early Show , Sarah’s father recounted the phone call he and his wife got, informing them of the unimaginable.
"It was amazing. I'm in the living room. Betsy was in the computer area, and the phone rings ... and suddenly, I'm aware that there's a profound, distinct difference. Rather than speaking about Sarah, it became very clear she [Sarah’s nurse] was speaking to Sarah. It was the most amazing feeling in the world," he said.
The 1984 accident occurred when Scantlin was crossing the street in her hometown of Hutchinson, Kan. She suffered a massive brain injury and could not breathe on her own. Smith speaks with New York neurologist Randolph Marshall, who says that people like Scantlin rarely awake from such an injury. "You only hear about these cases very rarely and they’re always a surprise when they actually come to light," he says.
Scantlin’s speech is still limited.
However, it seems that throughout her 20-year coma, she could see, hear, and understand what was going on around her. Shortly after she awoke, her father asked what she knew about events that had occurred years earlier.
"Sarah, what's 9/11?" her father asks. She responds, "Bad…fire…airplanes…building…hurt people."
Smith says there are other things deep in Scantlin’s brain that also survived the accident, such things as her favorite 1980s song "Summer Lovin’," which she even sings for The Early Show.
Re: Terry Schiavo
Date: 2005-08-06 07:31 pm (UTC)If I seem offended it is because I am unsure if you are likening Terry Schiavo to the personal case of my mother, if in fact, you believe that I and my family murdered her by denying her food and water.
Whether Terry Schiavo should have been take off food and water will always be up for debate, because there was no proof of her wishes, only her husband's word, which was suspect. In my mother's case, it was not up for debate, because she had made it clear what she wanted, in writing, through an attorney. Do you feel that it is always wrong to stop life support, if there is no prognosis for recovery (as was our case), and there was a living will stating a desire not to receive life support? It is your view on this point that I am unclear. I truly hope that I am not angering or offending you, and I'm also sorry to prolong this particular conversation with you, because I suspect it has become unpleasant, but as my feelings are still raw (mom died about three weeks ago) I took your last comments personally. That is all.
Re: Terry Schiavo
Date: 2005-08-06 08:20 pm (UTC)Having said that, you asked me a question, and I have to answer. I am a Catholic. I do not think anyone has a right to suicide. You did not make yourself and you cannot unmake yourself - or give others orders to do so. And to order not to be given food or drink is to me quite simply evidence that the person in question, will or not, did not understand what she was getting into. An order not to receive useless medical care is one thing. The Church teaches that it is forbidden to bring about someone's death to relieve pain, but that on the other hand pain-relieving measures may be given even if it is expected that they may shorten life expectancy; and that there is no obligation to artificially lengthen life where the final issue is not in doubt. The point is the Fifth Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Kill. That includes oneself. And that means that an order to withdraw food and drink is equivalent to suicide and must not be accepted. An accomplice to suicide is an accomplice to murder.
I have no desire to interfere with someone else's bitter grief. My impulse in these situation is to just embrace whoever it is that is suffering, and offer my shoulder to cry on. But having to answer your question, I would say this: that if my mother left a will where she demanded that no superfluous medical cure be wasted on her in case of irreversible illness, it would break my heart, but I would obey; but if she left an order not to be given food or drink, I would absolutely refuse.
A few years ago, my grandfather died. He was 96 and had been ill for a long time. The combined efforts of his wife - herself in her late eighties - and his daughters kept him alive for months. Why did they do so? Because they loved him and they felt it was their duty to him. I will always cherish the memory of when he asked me (I have rather a good voice) to sing for him, and managed to make it understood, afterwards, that I was "the greatest".
Re: Terry Schiavo
Date: 2005-08-07 05:30 am (UTC)