Firefighter recovers from a 10-year coma
By tankertodd Posted in User Blogs — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Saw this posted by Fox News.
Couldn't help but think of Terri Schiavo when the doctor was quoted as saying
"It's almost unheard of after 10 years," she said, "but sometimes things do happen and people suddenly improve and we don't understand why."
Now granted this person's situation was possibly quite different from Terri's. For example, he was in a coma. And I don't want to reawaken the whole Terri debate in full. But the doctor's quote makes you think about how little current medical science knows about the brain. People make decisions to pull plugs, which is highly definite, based on our incomplete knowledge of the brain and its potential. There inlies the most troublesome issue regarding the Terri Schiavo case.
Perhaps something medical science can work on...perhaps they can pull a small percentage of the gazillions of dollars spent on AIDS.
He was in a coma for 2 1/12 months. After waking up, he needed help feeding himself and had no memory of his life or family, and has very slurred speech and was left virtually blinded.
That said, what a wonderful miracle for him, and for his family and friends!
But surely you will concede the point that a significant portion of research funding here in America is devoted to AIDS research for primarily political reasons, as opposed to an evaluation of the number of people who stand to benefit. In the end, you always have to set priorities.
As of 2000, AIDS received nearly 30 percent ($1.4 billion) of all NIH funding, almost four times the amount allocated to the next largest recipient, breast cancer research ($381 million).
if they are grateful. I suspect they are.
AIDS is actively killing people all over the world and I think that AIDS research takes a little more importance then deciphering the 50 different levels of brain damage. What progress have we made if we help one brain damaged person recover, but millions are left to die from a disease that can be prevented and maybe one day cured?
My personal opinion is that everyone should have a living will, so that in the event of brain damage, coma, PVS, whatever, your guardian(s) knows what your wishes are, and there is no room for debate. I'm all in favor of a person making their own decisions when it comes to their quality of life.