Differences in Terms: Differences in Cases

I really have difficulty reading some news stories, editorials, etc about medical cases. This one is no different. When speaking about persons and medical cases such as Terri Schiavo and Susan Torres, it is VERY important to have correct terminology to begin with.

My response to this one was not meant to sound "nasty", but was intended to point out the very serious differences in what was written and what was.

Dear Mr. Bradley,

There are some glaring errors in your report, and as a nurse, I have to comment.

Terri Schiavo was not brain dead, she was brain damaged. She was disabled. She was like any other brain damaged person, including those born that way and those injured later in life. She was on no ‘life support’ other than a tube which allowed formula and water and any medications she may need for her period, etc to be delivered. She was not, as you said, dying. That is a fact we agree on.

Susan Torres was dying. She was dying as a result of a massively bleeding Melanoma tumor, which did not simply DAMAGE her brain… she was diagnosed brain DEAD… and there IS no recovery from brain death. Without TRUE life support (ie, respirator/ventilator) she could NOT live. Had Susan not been pregnant, the respirator/ventilator, etc would have been removed long ago, probably almost immediately.

However, whenever there is a pregnancy, there are TWO patients involved. Two. Not one. Two. And one of those patients was living, not dying, not brain injured, not brain dead. Any OB MD or nurse can tell you that fact, as we learn it in training, and in Anatomy and Physiology, etc.

To turn off her life support meant that her heart would stop…and then, later, as a result, so would the baby’s. BOTH patients would die.

Susan had NO hope of living any kind of life without those machines.

Terri WAS living without them.

Susan was never diagnosed as being in a ‘vegetative state’. Not one MD or medical professional would agree with that statement. Susan was diagnosed as brain dead. There IS no recovery.

Terri was disputably diagnosed as being in a ‘permanent vegetative state’… MDs disagreed. Other Medical professionals disagreed. Some VEHEMENTLY disagreed. The families disagreed.

However, though Terri would never return to what she had been before her collapse, she MAY have been able to gain some skills (such as swallowing, perhaps speech) had she been allowed the therapy over the last 12 years of her life that was ‘promised’ during the Medical Malpractice suit…and then prohibited by the same person who had sought money to be able to care for Terri and her rehab. We will, therefore, never know what Terri may have been able to do with proper rehab and care.

There was no family disagreement with the Torres family members because… there was no possibility of any life without the machines. Susan was NOT in a coma…she was not brain damaged. She was not “vegetative”. Susan’s brain was so massively destroyed by the spontaneous bleed from the ruptured tumor that her brain died.

Terri’s did not. Terri was brain DAMAGED… not brain DEAD. Terri was disabled.

Susan was not disabled. Susan was dying; her heart beat, and her lungs worked as long as a machine forced air into her lungs rhythmically. She could not maintain heart or lung function on her own. Without those three organs functioning, none of the rest (kidneys, liver, intestines, etc) could, either.

Terri could. Terri did. Terri was NOT dying, until they stopped giving her what you and I both need to survive… food and water.

Sorry, but the nurse in me just reacts very strongly when those facts are incorrectly stated. The two cases are not remotely alike.

Finally, there is a video that I would like to refer you to, and suggest that you view it with two things in mind:

1) If Sarah knew about things like 9/11 when SHE was ‘vegetative’… in spite of ‘experts’… how much did Terri know? The autopsy results cannot REALLY answer that question. Her brain had shrunk… as all brains do… by the dehydration as well as by the brain damage.
2) Read Terri’s attorney’s account of her last visit with Terri. The description of Terri’s attempt to speak is nearly exactly the way every brain damaged person I have cared for as a nurse (33+ years) is exactly how they would say I Want… http://www.lc.org/ProLife/last_visit_terri_schiavo.htm

For the video on Sarah:

Click here: CBSNews.com / CBS News Video

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/videoplayer/newVid/small_player/cbsnews_videoplayer.shtml?clip=/media/2005/08/05/video760734.wmv&sec=500202&vidId=500202&title=20-Year$@$Coma$@$Woman$@$Speaks&hitboxMLC=earlyshow

Sincerely, and God bless you!