Any questions?

[kyburg]

You know, somebody ran roughshod over the HIPAA and a whole lot of privacy laws to get to that film. I can question their motives - but when it's coming from the University of Miami, and they're discussing ethics - I can't question the validity of the films. here's a better view.

Can we put this assumption to bed? She can't ever recover.

This is not about Teri Schiavo. Don't be fooled, exploited or used. That is your only duty in this matter.

Comments

relevant to nothing

[bigbigtruck.livejournal.com]

What's the black part in the upper 1/10? Is that the nasal/sinus cavity?

Re: relevant to nothing

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm going to bow to Jim - when he gets a moment, I'm sure he'll be able to tell you.

He's the guy who does this for a living, after all. :)

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that excellent source of information I can trust. Without having seen unbiased sources of medical information, I could not make a decision about this case in my own mind. Now I at least have that much.

Re: relevant to nothing

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it's the sinuses, yes. (I'm an amateur neurologist, but Jim's probably a better confirmation.) I believe the notable feature here is the big blue lake in the center, which shouldn't be there in a normal brain.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

A reasonably good explanatory image:

http://findlaw.doereport.com/generateexhibit.php?ID=3446&ExhibitKeywordsRaw=brain&TL=1889&A=42409

Re: relevant to nothing

[unclejimbo.livejournal.com]

If you mean that dark space in the white border (skull) that is the frontal sinus.

[pagawne.livejournal.com]

No, this isn't about poor Teri, it is about power and who has it.
Obviously, not the American people anymore.

They have also done more with mess to really damage the sancity of
marriage, then 10,000 gay marriages on the White House lawn.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Boy, that is a *huge* ethical can of worms. I know some people who would just be LIVID that HIPPA was so egregiously violated...

But you know what? I think the right to live as you will, which includes the right to die as you will, trumps HIPPA... and the right for 300,000,000 Americans to know they're being jerked around trumps both of those. Somebody did the Right Thing here.

Would you ping me when Jim responds with an interp of what's going on? I want to link to this...

Question: Is HIPPA preventing this from entering evidence in court? What affect would this have?

[bigbigtruck.livejournal.com]

so those twin New Jersey shapes are atrophied, or is that hydrocephaly?

[bigbigtruck.livejournal.com]

hurr, never mind. Speaking of atrohy, maybe I should read :P

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

*ping*

Frontal sinuses. Come back and take another look at the thread -

[http://users.livejournal.com/little_e_/]

my father has a degenerative brain disease, and for the past 5 years I've hoped that whenever his time finally comes, they'll give him the proper pain killers and let him die with some amount of dignity and without too much suffering. I've heard too many cases of doctors denying pain medication to terminally ill patients because they're addictive or the medications might shorten the patient's life span.

The measures people will take to extend life are astronomical. the measures they'll take to make it livable, however, are quite the opposite. quality of life is completely unimportant.

for god's sakes, why won't they just let the poor woman die already?

[unclejimbo.livejournal.com]

An interp as to what is going on?

Well, to sum up in Ebonics: She be fucked... :/

That brain is so shivelled, I'm surprised she has as much function as she does...

[djstatick.livejournal.com]

I find it quite sad that someone's life is being used for a power grab. First off, this has been in front of 16 different judges 23 times, and they all said the same thing. Also, check out the link here... http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/print?id=600937

The part that is most sickening is that "this is a great political issue"

No, it's not great. It's horrible. These people are the same ones who said that the Tsunami was a "wonderful opportunity" for America. I hate these people so much.

[bigbigtruck.livejournal.com]

I find it quite sad that someone's life is being used for a power grab.
People inside the womb get exploited for political gains quite often - why not folks outside... >:/

[aidans-dream.livejournal.com]

I feel really sorry for Terri. Even if she is still all there mentaly (which I seriously doubt). I don't think her soul is there anymore. Thats just my personal oppion.

The brain (from what I remember learning) can remember responce movements and trigers. And if she is all there I personally don't think they should let her suffer any more.

My dad's take on this for the parents point of view. Just let her go and go though the pain once, and not go through the pain over and over every day.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Would you care to enlarge upon this analysis a little for those of us less able to read the dissimilar scans?

[unclejimbo.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I didn't mean to make light of her condition, it just is that obvious to me that she is not going to recover.

It is pretty easy to see. On the right is an image of a healthy brain. See how nice and homogeneous the brain material is on the image. The ventricles (cavities in the brain that allow cerebral spinal fluid to circulate) are the little squiggly lines in the center. This is a brain that is pretty darn normal.

Now compare to Terri's brain. The ventricles take up almost half of the cranial cavity. What brain material is present is shriveled and clumped in stringy masses. Even the line where the hemispheres of her brain is highly exaggerated. This brain is dead. It is incapable of any cognitive ability.

Now the reason that Terri's body is still able to breathe on it's own and the heart keeps beating is because the brain is separated into three areas. the cerebrum, the cerebellum and the brain stem. The cerebrum handles all the higher brain functions. The brain stem handles the autonomic (no thought required) functions such as breathing, heart beat, blinking of eyes, etc... Most of the behaviors that Terri has 'exhibited' are most likely reflexes from the autonomic system.

I'm not sure about the condition of the third section of Terri's brain, the cerebellum. It is not shown in this image. Here is a link that can explain what this part of the brain does better than I can.

She's not going to get better. The film, for me, is most telling.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I didn't mean to make light of her condition

Oh, I didn't for one moment think you were. It's just .... well, when I look at those scans, I can see something's not right, but I don't see what you probably see.

Now compare to Terri's brain. The ventricles take up almost half of the cranial cavity.

HOLY CRAP on a FLAMING CRUTCH, those shadows are the VENTRICLES?!?

Yeah. She's dead. She just hasn't fallen over yet. Poor woman. And they won't let her body die ....

Even the line where the hemispheres of her brain is highly exaggerated.

I assume there's a word or two missing here. Join? Meet?

Would -- or should -- the corpus callosum be visible in this scan?

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

It's a CAT - I would think in some slice, it might - but far lower. If at all.

One might think it was totally absent at this point, but without being able to see any of the other 'slices' - your guess is as good as mine.

Ugh, HIPAA... I write Business Associate Agreements. :(

[arkibet.livejournal.com]

There's clauses in the Act that state when the protected information may be compromised. Example: A doctor may reveal protected information to a sales rep because a drug they gave a patient had an adverse reaction. The doctor can discuss the situation with the rep without a BAA.

To answer your question, and in my not-so-expert-but-very-familiar-with-legal-issues, HIPAA would not prevent this information from court.

Re: Ugh, HIPAA... I write Business Associate Agreements. :(

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

No, but posting it on the internet where anyone (including me) can pick it up and pass it around without restraint?

Kind of naughty, you ask me.

Re: Ugh, HIPAA... I write Business Associate Agreements. :(

[arkibet.livejournal.com]

Well, one could argue that the entire case is a violation of HIPAA then. I mean, we know who she is, what her mental state is, and that she's had a feeding tube. I think that's a BIG violation of HIPAA. So this little picture seems like chump change to me.