Category: Brain Injury

Tafida Raqeeb is the latest case of a UK child being denied treatment abroad

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Tafida Raqeeb has been diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation, a rare condition which causes the blood vessels to have abnormal connections between the arteries and veins. Tafida had a brain bleed on February 9 that has left her in coma in the Royal London Hospital where the doctors …

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More evidence that people in ‘vegetative states’ may be aware

By Michael Cook How do we know that patients with acute brain injuries who seem completely unresponsive really are? Some retain what doctors call “covert consciousness” – but which ones? A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine says that about 15% of such patients are responding to verbal commands in their …

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The ‘affaire Vincent Lambert’ is a test of the nation’s commitment to the disabled

By Michael Cook Last week, in a case which has divided France as Terri Schiavo’s did in the US, a Frenchman who has been in a vegetative state for more than 10 years had a last-minute reprieve from dying after doctors turned off his life support. It was turned back on pending further deliberations in …

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Mother awakens after 27 years in a “minimally conscious” state

Son says, “I never gave up on her because I always had a feeling that one day she will wake up” By Dave Andrusko There are so many layers of miracles to Munira Abdulla’s awakening after 27 years, it’s hard to know where to start. On Monday, The National, an Emerati-based newspaper, first published details …

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Food, water restored to comatose man in US Catholic hospital after mom fights for his life

By Martin M. Barillas TUCSON, Arizona– Nutrition and hydration have been restored to a 32-year-old man in a coma in an Arizona Catholic hospital after his mom posted heartbreaking videos on social media last week saying that doctors were slowly starving her son to death. David Ruiz, a father of three, suffered a stroke and …

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Diagnosed as “on his way to brain death,” man becomes responsive after children skip appointment with funeral home

Family calls him “miracle man” By Dave Andrusko Where have we heard this story before? On December 12, T. Scott Marr is found in his bed, unresponsive but breathing, and rushed to Methodist Hospital where he is placed on a breathing machine. He is diagnosed as having suffered a stroke. The family returns the next …

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New “game-changing” findings and recommendations offer new hope to brain-injured patients unfairly labeled “vegetative”

By Dave Andrusko In his post for the Catholic Phily, Richard Doerflinger calls new findings and recommendations from a prestigious group of medical organizations nothing short of “game-changing.” Doerflinger, who worked for 36 years in the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is referring to new guidelines from the American …

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Severely brain-damaged patients are commonly misdiagnosed, often aware and may well recover, says authoritative new report

By Peter Saunders Editor’s note. Dr. Saunders is a former general surgeon and CEO of Christian Medical Fellowship, a UK-based organization with 4,500 UK doctors and 1,000 medical students as members. People with severe brain damage are difficult to diagnose reliably, not uncommonly recover, and are often much more aware than we think. Specifically: Four …

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British Supreme Court: Families can decide to starve brain damaged patients to death

“The Supreme Court has set a dangerous precedent” By SPUC—the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children The Supreme Court has ruled that doctors can withdraw food and fluid from brain-damaged patients without going to court – if the patient’s family is in agreement. The Care not Killing (CNK) Alliance, of which SPUC is a …

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Two New Jersey families fight to keep their sons on life-support

“Eerily similar” cases, shades of Alfie Evans By Dave Andrusko In an incredible coincidence two families are fighting to keep their sons on life support at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. CHOP has declared both Areen Chakrabarti and Jayden Auyeung brain-dead and want them taken off of ventilators, according to Fox News, However, “Both boys are …

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Attempting to give patients in a locked-in syndrome “their voice back”

By Dave Andrusko Before I started writing this post, I checked to see how many times NRL News Today had written about Dr. Adrian Owen, who is a Canadian Excellence Research Chair in cognitive neuroscience and imaging based at the University of Western Ontario’s Brain and Mind Institute. Today’s post will make 14 stories about …

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Unjustly dehumanizing patients with severe brain injuries

By Dave Andrusko Adequately discussing Prof. Joseph J. Fins’ New York Times op-ed “Brain Injury and the Civil Right We Don’t Think About” of a while back not only doesn’t lend itself to brevity, it is also so important it justifies a more elaborate examination. In that vein I’ve promised myself I will read Prof. …

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