By Dave Andrusko
NRLC President Carol Tobias
National Right to Life President and Pro-Life Perspective Host Carol Tobias today picks up where she left offer yesterday–talking about a groundbreaking new study published last month in the British medical journal, The Lancet. “The study specifically addresses the dehumanizing diagnosis of patients in a so-called ‘persistent vegetative state’ (PVS) and found some rather remarkable results,” Mrs. Tobias tells us.
What shines through best in today’s five-minute episode is how that PVS diagnosis effectively sealed the fate of Terri Schindler Schiavo, in spite of all that her family and pro-lifers collective did on Terri’s behalf. But hopefully “Just as ‘blob of tissue’ is no longer used by anyone of credibility on either side of the abortion debate, the day may be coming closer that it is no longer acceptable to call another human being a ‘vegetable,’” writes Mrs. Tobias “And certainly we pray the day is closer that such a diagnosis doesn’t grant courts or doctors the right to choose death for a brain-injured patient.”
She further elaborates on that remarkable Lancet study which shows that even patients who are accurately diagnosed as being in a PVS (and up to 40% aren’t) can be consciously aware, as EEGs demonstrate. There is an important and life-affirming caveat, however. It does not follow that such patients are definitely unconscious if EEGs do not detect these signs. (We talked about this yesterday in a related story at www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2011/12/lethal-conventional-wisdom-on-brain-injured-patients-constantly-changing/#more-7178.)
Take a few minutes and go to www.prolifeperspectivecom where you can hear both Parts One and Two. Please be sure to alert your friends through your social contacts.
And this from Mrs. Tobias: “As always, if you have any questions or comments or stories that you’d like to share with me, I’d love to hear them. Please email me at carol@prolifeperspective.com.”
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