Brain activity in Schiavo case in regards to her response to stimuli

[Mike Daniels]

I though I heard at one point during the case on Karen Ann Quinlan that someone did a electrical activity scan on her brain and compared it to a bowl of jello. In the end, the microbes present in the water that went to make the jello showed more electrical impulses than Quinlan's brain.

I was wondering if there's any electrical activity showing in any tests with Schiavo. I know her parents make a big deal out of her responding to certain stimuli. However, I remember from 9th grade biology that certain microbes respond to certain stimuli such as light and vibrations as well. So I don't know if Terri responding really means anything other than that she's at least on par with a paramecium.

What have the doctors said regarding actual brain activity?

I don't really have a dog in this hunt as to what happens to Schiavo although I think Congress has totally gone nuts if they actually think this case is worth their attention.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. You must be thinking of yogurt, jello has no microbes.

[Mike Daniels]

4. Thanks for the correction

It's been a long while since I heard the general story. I just remembered that it was some sort of soft mushy food product and jello sounded right at the time.

[enki23]

7. er.... jello has no microbes?

are you *serious*? a big bowl of collagen and sucrcose laden media? is that your final answer? it might not be ideal, but i kinda doubt it's sterile.

[BlueEyedSon]

9. Not intentionally, and certainly not immediately after being made.

It takes boiling water to dissolve all the ingredients. A few hours in the fridge is not likely to make it septic.

OTOH, yogurt is the product of microbial action, cant have yogurt WITHOUT microbes... lots of them!

[enki23]

10. nobody said anything about "fresh" jello ;-)

.

[BlueEyedSon]

11. Eeeeewwww

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Cortical death and degeneration

While I have not seen official medical records, Terri's diagnosis as described in court records shows that her cerebral cortex -- the part of the brain that is involved with thinking -- has died, and is breaking down. She also has extensive misbrain damage, although her brainstem is in fairly good condition.

She's not "on a par with a paramecium". She is unable to think, and her more-complex reactions to external stimuli are severly damaged. She can exhibit patterned automatic action. That'a about it.

Of course, according to her fan club, she suffers from minimal brain damage, and her husband wants her out of the way so he can inherit a big, fat $50,000 chunk of change left over from the court proceedings, marry his prostitute girlfriend and sodomize her children, and work for the Democrat (sic) Party. Yes, yes, he lives in mortal fear that she will wake up and accuse him of abusing her, participating in satanic rituals, and killing the Lindburgh baby.

It's a freak show. And they intend to drag it out until Michael Schiavo is broke and unable to defend himself in court, when they will hit him with a huge, multi-count criminal indictment.

You don't f*ck with the People Of God and expect to get away with it. Just ask Algore. Just ask JFK.

--p!

[BlueEyedSon]

5. A paramecium can locomote and feed itself, I would say TS is worse off.

[Mike Daniels]

6. My paramecium comment was perhaps a tad harsh in retrospect

although it does seems that the right to lifers are relying heavily on the stimuli responses as the primary evidence that she's not brain dead.

[loudsue]

12. That's also how they portray fetuses in their horror films about abortion.

:kick:

[Dogmudgeon]

13. Actually, my response was too dry

It came off like a rebuke, and I didn't intend that. I'm rushing around today, too, and I always make bone-headed errors like that when I post too quickly.

What I intended to write, started to then cut out, was something like: Actually, she has higher responses than does a parmecium, but a human being is composed of hundreds of trillions of cells. The ones that count for conscious human existence are dead.

However, I though it would get into other issues, so I cut -- too deep! (Or maybe not deep enough.)

--p!

[Ruffhowse]

3. It's fundies tryin' to run other people's lives again, so of course the

Repukes have to jump into it in their usually pandering way.

[zbdent]

8. At this point, I would take the "stimuli" that they apply to TS and then

send a jolt of electricity through a detached leg of a frog - and say - "There. That frog's still alive, according to your standards . . ."