Keith Devens .com

It's rather worrying that some of the commenters on Polipundit don't seem to realise that the Fireman still had cortex, whereas Schiavo didn't. I wish people would let that one die (pun not intended).

But back to the story: how cool! The first thing that popped into my head when I read this was the movie Awakenings.

I don't think Schiavo's condition was ever fully established. Judging from the description this guy seemed to be in equal or worse shape than Schiavo. But I don't know, so I didn't make the argument and let people draw their own conclusions.

This dude was is pretty bad shape, but the difference is that his brain was more or less intact: there was extensive damage, but nothing was missing. Terry Schiavo, OTOH, had a fully intact brain, except for one critical section: no cortex.

While the brain can work its way around some pretty severe damage--one of the most amazing things about it--replacing whole sections is, unfortunately, another matter. The confusion here is that most people think the different kinds of severe brain damage are equivalent, but they're not.

I'm not saying their respective brain damages were equivalent, but I've never heard elsewhere your claim that she "had no cortex". As far as I know she never even was given an MRI or a PET scan, so I don't see how that could even have been firmly established.

Um: http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/20...the-cat-scan-of-terri-schiavos-brain/

BTW, my comments weren't targeted at you, but at some of the comments in the Polipundit thread.

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/johansen200503160848.asp

Read what tests were NOT done on Schiavo!!! Read that some medical experts debated the "persistent vegetative state' diagnosis, and why!!!

Courts 9who in the US think they are "god!!!) should always be ruling in favor of life if there is the LEAST suspicion of a bad diagnosis, etc.

EUGENICS (look it up on the Internet) and Sir Francis Galton's breedcow view of the human race lives on. (The Nazis, for instace, routinely killed off the disabled!!!)