Friday, June 24, 2005
Make Way For Hooey
Head's up. We received this email today:
Sir,This was our reply:
I am the neurosurgeon who wrote the letter to the New York Times this week about Terri Schiavo. I posted a comment on your site yesterday, pointing out that you had made some pretty serious errors in your comments and offering to correct the errors. My comment wasn't posted, and I haven't heard back from you.
If your goal is the truth, I can help you get there. I would be happy to discuss the medical facts and the ethics of the Schiavo affair, with you, on your blog, so your readers can judge for themselves what the real issues are. If you are uncomfortable discussing these issues with a physician, I would be happy to discuss them with any expert of your choice (I hear Jack Kevorkian has some time on his hands). I doubt that you have the stomach for this, but I thought I'd give you a chance.
Mike Egnor
Thanks for your thoughtful email. The comment posting on Blogger is automatic; we don't control it. If you posted a comment, it should have appeared and we should have received a confirmation email. No idea why it wouldn't work for you.This should be good.
Try again, or feel free to email your comments here; we're happy to deal with it on 201k.com.
Regards,
Editor
201k.com
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If a debate opens-up on the Schiavo autopsy and related ethical issues, as proposed by Dr. Egnor, I'd like to refer your readers to my series of articles, critiquing the autopsy report, the first of which has now appeared on my blog, Eros Colored Glasses, and has now also been published complete on other sites (see below).
In particular, the putative total "cortical blindness" claimed by the ME was almost certainly an artifact of the dehydration process to which Terri Schiavo was subjected during the last two weeks of her life.
Sherry Eros, MD
email: erosMD@earthlink.net
The article is entitled: Terri Schiavo's Autopsy: The Blind Spot
Direct Link to article on my blog: http://eroscoloredglasses.blogspot.com/2005/06/terri-schiavos-autopsy-blind-spot.html
Intellectual Conservative link: http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article4420.html
Highlights on the PVS diagnosis include:
By reference to the medical literature adduces evidence that a substantial portion of the loss in Terri's brain weight observed postmortem may have been due to the dehydration to which she was subjected.
By reference to the medical literature adduces evidence that Terri's much-vaunted total cortical blindness may also be attributable to dehydration.
Refutes the Medical Examiners' suggestion that their autopsy findings are "very consistent with" the PVS diagnosis and that for years Terri Schiavo was unable to see, recognize her family, think, or exercise any of the other higher mental functions that distinguish human life.
Refutes the Medical Examiners' suggestion that their autopsy findings prove that Terri Schiavo suffered irreversible brain damaged and would not have benefited from rehabilitation.
Critiques poor medical and scientific reasoning and misleading statements by the Medical Examiners who performed the autopsy, as well as by the mainstream media and medical experts who supported the Medical Examiners' misinterpretation of the findings.
In particular, the putative total "cortical blindness" claimed by the ME was almost certainly an artifact of the dehydration process to which Terri Schiavo was subjected during the last two weeks of her life.
Sherry Eros, MD
email: erosMD@earthlink.net
The article is entitled: Terri Schiavo's Autopsy: The Blind Spot
Direct Link to article on my blog: http://eroscoloredglasses.blogspot.com/2005/06/terri-schiavos-autopsy-blind-spot.html
Intellectual Conservative link: http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article4420.html
Highlights on the PVS diagnosis include:
By reference to the medical literature adduces evidence that a substantial portion of the loss in Terri's brain weight observed postmortem may have been due to the dehydration to which she was subjected.
By reference to the medical literature adduces evidence that Terri's much-vaunted total cortical blindness may also be attributable to dehydration.
Refutes the Medical Examiners' suggestion that their autopsy findings are "very consistent with" the PVS diagnosis and that for years Terri Schiavo was unable to see, recognize her family, think, or exercise any of the other higher mental functions that distinguish human life.
Refutes the Medical Examiners' suggestion that their autopsy findings prove that Terri Schiavo suffered irreversible brain damaged and would not have benefited from rehabilitation.
Critiques poor medical and scientific reasoning and misleading statements by the Medical Examiners who performed the autopsy, as well as by the mainstream media and medical experts who supported the Medical Examiners' misinterpretation of the findings.
Is this all she has to offer? Pretty lame. Obviously she is intending to addess an audiance that is not concerned with medical facts. It seems to me that it is unlikely that the dehydration that killed Ms. Schiavo caused any futher brain damage. I am unaware of any claim to that effect before this case. I am ready to move on now. I can't take any of these folks seriously.
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11:15 AM, June 27, 2005
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11:15 AM, June 27, 2005
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