what were you up to?
1986.
The Wall was still up, Reagan was in office, William H. Rehnquist became Chief Justice, Challenger exploded, Chernobyl blew its top, Matlock was on TV, Aliens was in theaters, Nintendo was new and I was tiny, and adorable enough to get away with calling an uncle a jack-ass. (Well, he was.)
Also, a guy was in a car crash.
Not so odd-- a little, in that he didn't recover or die; the doctors said he was in a coma.
He knows. He heard them.
Again and again, he was diagnosed as being in a coma, or "persistent vegetative state."
Science marched on, making it easier and easier to do a more in-depth check of "human vegetables," but no-one bothered to check Rom, until three years ago, when Dr. Steven Laureys (an activist doctor-- of the "saving those who are misdiagnosed" type) did a brain scan (his big thing) and found that Rom was basically normal. The story is coming out now because Rom is able to give interviews via typing out responses. Seems less than sympathetic to the "kill the lock-ins" theory of dealing with misdiagnosed PVS.
You know, I'd say something like "maybe this will prevent murders, like Mrs. Schiavo!"-- but I doubt it.
The same people will be calling for the slow murder by dehydration of those who can't ask them to stop-- and sometimes, those who can.
This is nothing new-- people "recover" from being a "vegetable" with worrying frequency, and it hasn't changed any minds before now. Kind of like those folks who survive abortion. The lines are drawn, and no minds will change.
Oh, side note? The reason that I have quotes around the term "vegetable" above is because it's one hell of an attempt to dehumanize a person. You think calling someone the various animal-based insults is bad, at least a pig has more moral protection than a zucchini.
16 comments:
28 FEB 2008 on my Blog says a lot about what I was doing......"Getting the Heck outta Dodge".........
Ahh the memories....heh
That was an incredible story. Should give people pause when dealing with those who appear to be "vegetables."
Off topic: Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, particularly the little muffin!
Same to you all!
Here’s my minor attempt to think clearly about this case: ‘Bioethics’ and the Houben Case
Re: '86. Plebe year at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, a.k.a. "Seminary".
Thanks for posting this. I will never forget the Terry Schiavo debacle(?). I remember shaking with anger and bewilderment while arguing the topic with a friend of mine. Never happened before.
I was totally sure that she'd be saved.
After all, this is America, and it was TOTALLY CLEAR her husband was unspeakably unqualified to be making any sort of choice for her, what with the multiple illegitimate children, some evidence of abuse and the big pile of money if she died.
[Yes, that's how 'debacle' is spelled.]
I presume, Dean, that your "anger and bewilderment" was due to shock that another member of our society, much less someone you knew and thought of as a friend, could be OK with such a rank injustice and with the intentional causing of such a horrific death to another (and defenseless) member of our society.
I do not accept spam from some guy who is copying and pasting a response that may or may not have anything to do with the post, and which is also highly misleading. My post is on the fact that he's conscious; you're beating the drum for another fuss. ( http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,677537,00.html )
You want to take the time to read and respond to what is here, you'll be welcome. You want to spam my friends and I, you'll be treated like spam.
It was neither spam nor misleading. You were very vocal in your insistence that James Randi and Arthur Caplan were not worthy of consideration in their protests that facilitated communication was not a valid technique and could not be evidence of Rom Houben being conscious. That has now been proven, and your response is to attempt to suppress the evidence.
Learn to read.
No matter what was said elsewhere, these comments are for replies to this post.
If you'd taken the time to even try to reply to this post, even if it took it to another topic, your spam would still be there; as you posted identical comments in multiple places in the space of a few minutes for the purpose of grabbing some bandwidth you couldn't manage on your own, it was treated like any other attempt to derail conversation and advertise or thread high jack.
Why don't you go argue for the murder of those who can't prove their humanity to your satisfaction elsewhere?
"Why don't you go argue for the murder of those who can't prove their humanity to your satisfaction elsewhere?"
You are so kind to your opponent. Not.
Irony, thy nane is stupidity.
It is amusing how pointing out what someone is suggesting is more objectionable than actually holding a let's-kill-a-human view.
Speaking the truth is sooo mean, you ol' meanie!
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