From WorldNetDaily:
One of the definitions of someone who is PVS is that they cannot swallow. A “liquified cortex” would prevent someone from being able to swallow the saliva that they produce. Doctors will testify that the average human can produce up to two liters of saliva a day.
You know how it is at homes for disabled children and adults. Many of them regularly have large amounts of saliva dripping all down the front of their shirts. […] But with Terri … it’s not. It’s missing. It’s just not there.
Her chin, lips, corners of her mouth, neck and face are never slimy. How is this possible?
From “Persistant Vegitative State” (pdf link), a paper by Dr Andrew Fergusson, Head of Policy, Centre for Bioethics and Public Policy, UK:
Clinical features [of PVS]:
- Spontaneous respiration and heartbeat
- No life support machinery
- Body functions normally
- Sleep/wake cycles
- Swallowing, but not safely or sufficiently (hence tube feeding)
- No intellectual activity
- No rational responses
- No sentience
- No cognitive function
Reflex swallowing of saliva comes from the brainstem, not the cortex. Link via Dawn Patrol, who was, alas, fooled by the WorldNetDaily’s false claim.
Before you write this off as bunk make a little allowance for the fact that the average Joe doesn’t know a brainstem from his kneecap.
Other than the word brainstem instead of cortex, he is correct. Terri does not drool. That has been mentioned numerous times by the “other” side, including primary care givers who would had to clean her. Some of those, BTW, have also mentioned sneaking her food now and then.
I can guarantee you that while the videos may be edited, removing all the drooling frame by frame would be virtually impossible. Nothing that could be attempted by other than the very best photo restorer and that is spendy, spendy, spendy.
Rather than consider WorldNetDaily as lying maybe you should consider the fact that Terri may in fact NOT be in PVS. Those implants, for example, could have caused damage that prevents her from speaking or damaged her eyes so that she cannot track correctly.
I can’t believe anyone would take anything they read at WorldNetDaily seriously.
I talked to my mom yesterday and she didn’t even have the basic facts of the case and thought Michael Schiavo was a murderer. I had her straight in like 5 minutes, but the entire thing is wearing me out. I told her right then that if I was ever like that, she better not fight my boyfriend over what to do. Pull the plug, please.
No, he’s totally wrong, because he claims that PVS patients can’t swallow. That’s simply not true; as the non-biased medical article I quoted from states, PVS patients do swallow.
Plus, Terri’s brainstem is intact.
I think talking about “chance” in terms of PVS in this case is a pretty slim one. Of course, I can’t *prove* I’m not living in The Matrix, but I think it’s a rational bet to act as if I’m not.
I can’t *prove* she’s not PVS, but from what I’ve read, the best bet is that she is.
This is deductive reasoning. Proving something 100% simply never happens. Talking to people as if they should be able to do that is just a cheap rhetorical trick that first year philosophy students get points of papers off for using.
If I *have* to admit that there’s a chance that the implants might be suppressing some of her functions, I ought to know if it’s a good bet, otherwise I’ll just admit there’s as much of a chance as there is for me to convert the next time that the JW’s come knocking.
Personally, I don’t think it matters in the least if she can or cannot swallow, is or is not in PVS.
The bottomline is, she is in “some type of vegetative state, to some degree” and she made her wishes known to her husband that she would not want to live this way.
To me, the idea that part of her brain has become fluid is enough to know that there is no “Terri” there anymore. It is also clear to me that the people fighting Michael Schiavo don’t really believe their own arguments. Her father terminated his own mother’s life support, and Tom Delay terminated his father’s. This is all just cynical political posturing in service of the anti-choice movement. It’s apparently proving quite profitable as well.