Doctors on Schiavo's Condition
OK.....I lied. I said no blog notes today on the Schiavo situation....However, both Capt. Ed and I had said that and then we get drawn into the topic because of some really wild stuff floating around out there.....
Ed at Captain's Quarters had this post this afternoon.....
The reference to Dr. William Hammesfahr reminded me of an email response I received from the Dr. who testified at the Schiavo hearings, Dr. Ronald Cranford. I got the missive from him last night in response to an inquiry. What struck me was Dr. Cranford referred to Dr. Hammesfahr in the email....with quite uncomplimentary terms!
Here is his email:
I'm so tired right now, I can hardly think, but .....
the truth of Terri's condition will come out when cooler heads prevail, and articles begin to appear in the professional literature in medicine, ethics, and law in order to carefully weigh the credibility and accuracy of the medical diagnoses and the medical experts in Terri's case (charlatans like Hammesfahr and Maxfield will never publish a sentence, not a word, in a peer reviewed journal). My background memo (see attached) has just been accepted in a peer-reviewed journal and hopefully will be published in the early summer.
The withdrawal of feeding tubes in PVS is a common occurrence. Death is due to dehydration, not "starvation." Starvation is a completely, misleading, and inflammatory term for this process. Most patients die within 10-14 days after stopping a feeding tube.
If withdrawing a feeding tube from a PVS patient is "murder," then there are thousands of doctors who are guilty of murder throughout the nation, and I and some other doctors are serial murderers. The US Supreme Court and over 20 state supreme court decisions have agreed that the feeding tube is a medical treatment and that the withdrawal of the feeding tube under appropriate circumstances is consistent with the highest standards of medical and ethical practice in the medical profession.
The autopsy of Terri will show exactly what I and the other credible neurologists have said for the last fifteen years, and the macroscopic and microscopic examination of the brain will show changes characteristic of extremely severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
I have previously published on this blog Dr. Cranford's 17 page item of historical reference following the Terri Schiavo case......
here.
My belief then as now was that the Dr.(Cranford) has an excellent following of the situation, and the fact of his being published on it indicates some credence as well.
Duke
posted by Duke of DeLand @ 3/31/2005 05:49:00 PM
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