Terry Schiavo again...

[Westy]

Wow, you folks sure do want her to die.

Nah, I'd rather have her live blissfully in a vegetative state for 20 years or so when a nice infected bed sore can take her out.

[Silver]

Wow, you folks sure do want her to die.

I just want her to go home to Jesus. God is calling her so loudly, and yet we can't seem to hear him.

How else does he make clear he wants her back? He already took most of her brain? I just want God's wishes to prevail in this case.

[$tinkle]

this story from 5 weeks ago should mix things up a bit:
Brain-Damaged Woman Talks After 20 Years

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) - For 20 years, Sarah Scantlin has been mostly oblivious to the world around her - the victim of a drunken driver who struck her down as she walked to her car. Today, after a remarkable recovery, she can talk again.

Scantlin's father knows she will never fully recover, but her newfound ability to speak and her returning memories have given him his daughter back. For years, she could only blink her eyes - one blink for "no," two blinks for "yes" - to respond to questions that no one knew for sure she understood.

"I am astonished how primal communication is. It is a key element of humanity," Jim Scantlin said, blinking back tears.

Sarah Scantlin was an 18-year-old college freshman on Sept. 22, 1984, when she was hit by a drunk driver as she walked to her car after celebrating with friends at a teen club. That week, she had been hired at an upscale clothing store and won a spot on the drill team at Hutchinson Community College.

After two decades of silence, she began talking last month. Doctors are not sure why. On Saturday, Scantlin's parents hosted an open house at her nursing home to introduce her to friends, family members and reporters.

A week ago, her parents got a call from Jennifer Trammell, a licensed nurse at the Golden Plains Health Care Center. She asked Betsy Scantlin if she was sitting down, told her someone wanted to talk to her and switched the phone to speaker mode:

"Hi, Mom."

"Sarah, is that you?" her mother asked.

"Yes," came the throaty reply.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine."

"Do you need anything," her mother asked her later.

"More makeup."

"Did she just say more makeup?" the mother asked the nurse.

Scantlin still suffers constantly from the effects of the accident. She habitually crosses her arms across her chest, her fists clenched under her chin. Her legs constantly spasm and thrash. Her right foot is so twisted it is almost reversed. Her neck muscles are so constricted she cannot swallow to eat.

The driver who struck Scantlin served six months in jail for driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident.

Scantlin started talking in mid-January but asked staff members not to tell her parents until Valentine's Day to surprise them, Trammell said. But last week she could not wait any longer to talk to them.

"I didn't think it would ever happen, it had been so long," Betsy Scantlin said.

Scantlin's doctor, Bradley Scheel, said physicians are not sure why she suddenly began talking but believe critical pathways in the brain may have regenerated.

"It is extremely unusual to see something like this happen," Scheel said.

The breakthrough came when the nursing home's activity director, Pat Rincon, was working with Scantlin and a small group of other patients, trying to get them to speak.

Rincon had her back to Scantlin while she worked with another resident. She had just gotten that resident to reply "OK," when she suddenly heard Sarah behind her also repeat the words: "OK. OK."

Staff members brought in a speech therapist and intensified their work with Sarah. They did not want to get her parents' hopes up until they were sure Sarah would not relapse, Trammell said.

On Saturday, Scantlin seemed at times overwhelmed by the attention. Dressed in a blue warm-up suit, she spoke little, mostly answering questions in a single word.

anybody know why we haven't crushed stephen hawking's punkass yet?

[Silver]

Ah, that is different. She had a brain to regenerate. Unless you believe that consciousness resides in spinal fluid?

[ALEXIS_DH]

Ah, that is different. She had a brain to regenerate. Unless you believe that consciousness resides in spinal fluid?

do deeply autistic, or the severely retarded people comply with your "consciousness" requirement?

[Silver]

do deeply autistic, or the severely retarded people comply with your "consciousness" requirement?

They sure do.

[Westy]

They sure do.

Does N8?

[Silver]

Does N8?

I doubt it. I don't think he could pass a Turing test...

[Westy]

I doubt it. I don't think he could pass a Turing test...

I still think he is just a virus on RM server put there to drive hits to certain news sites.

[$tinkle]

I doubt it. I don't think he could pass a Turing test...

consistently impure thoughts are a sign of failure to ever win the loebner prize.

in 10 days you can submit your n8 project for the award.

[ALEXIS_DH]

They sure do.

but they arent as self-functioning as this schiavo lady???? how is "consicousness" defined???

why cant we stop feeding the autistic and let them starve to death in their wheelchairs?

how is this lady different from the deeply autistic?? both have no hope of gaining "cognitive" functions...

[Silver]

but they arent as self-functioning as this schiavo lady???? how is "consicousness" defined???

why cant we stop feeding the autistic and let them starve to death in their wheelchairs?

how is this lady different from the deeply autistic?? both have no hope of gaining "cognitive" functions...

The deeply autistic are not a good comparison for Mrs. Schiavo.

Have you seen the CT scan that was done of her brain?

[RhinofromWA]

Doesn't matter. Her mother is.

Anyone else notice Bush took a few days to respond to the biggest natural disaster in a while, but he cut his holiday short for this?

Of course, stuff like this gets the base moving...

If by quick action you mean 15 years then you are right.

She is dead ans has been dead for 15 years. She did not want to live in a veg state and relay ed that info to multiple people before she was in this situation.

Pull the plug (so to speak)

[narlus]

Nah, I'd rather have her live blissfully in a vegetative state for 20 years or so when a nice infected bed sore can take her out.

nice one. a few corkers from you in this thread.

[ALEXIS_DH]

The deeply autistic are not a good comparison for Mrs. Schiavo.

Have you seen the CT scan that was done of her brain?

nope, but since i read somewhere she can breath on her own, i assume at least that the autonomous (i dont remember the actual part) part of the brain is in OK condition. so basically her only need is the feeding tube... which is not that much different from people so dependant that need to be fed...

consciousness as such accordind to wikipedia
Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one's environment. In common parlance, consciousness denotes being awake and responsive to one's environment; this contrasts with being asleep or being in a coma.
is not quite acomplished by mrs schiavo, and neither by the deeply autistic with say an IQ of 55...