The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network's complete 2012 Network News.

December

• Few Receive the Care Equal to Former Congresswoman Giffords (12/30/2012): (Bloomberg) - Larry Boswell sat slumped in a wheelchair. His sweatpants were soiled, his T-shirt soaked in saliva. Flies buzzed around his head.
• Statement from the CDPS Regarding Harvey Guardianship Case 12/28/2012 People with severe and profound disabilities are too often marginalized, ignored, and discarded by a society that increasingly seeks to promote those it sees as more perfect and whole. For every person like Gary Harvey who is pushed aside by society as used up and irrelevant, we take a step backwards towards the unspeakable barbarism that people only matter when they are like the rest of us. The Center for Disability in the Public Square fully supports Attorney Christopher Johnson's filing with the Supreme Court of the State of New York seeking to have Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo, to serve as Guardian for Mr. Gary Harvey.
• Promoting Suicide for Elderly in Salon 12/28/2012 (NRO) - One one hand we hear clarion warnings about elder suicide-and I share the worry. On the other, suicide for the elderly is sometimes promoted as beneficial in mainstream media outlets.
• Schiavo's Brother Petitions Court to Intervene in Guardianship Case 12/27/2012 Contact: Mary Foley, Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, 484-278-4287, [email protected]
• Student Comes Back Strong from Near-Fatal Accident 12/27/2012 (Telegraph) - Just a week into Year 12, Lewis was delivering pizzas when he was involved in a car accident that almost killed him. He suffered a massive brain injury and doctors at the Flinders Medical Centre told his parents to prepare for the worst.
• A Tale of Unconditional Love and Miracles 12/26/2012 (CNN) - Colleen O'Bara bathed her older sister, Edwarda, and fixed her hair. She fed her through a feeding tube like she'd done countless times. It was going to be a good day, the day before Thanksgiving.
• Prince Charles: Doctors Losing Humanity 12/22/2012 (NRO) - The implosion of UK healthcare quality is a warning for the U.S. Now, Prince Charles has another complaint: He says UK doctors have lost the human touch. From the Daily Mail story:
• Study: Mechanisms Responsible for Regenerating Blood Vessels in Brain 12/21/2012 (News Medical) - New research from the University of Georgia identifies the mechanisms responsible for regenerating blood vessels in the brain.
• Medford Resident Beats Odds with Brain Injury 12/20/2012 (Medford) - With just a year left of college, Tessa Venell was looking forward to her senior year. But a car accident in July 2006 left the then 21-year-old Medford resident in a coma with broken bones and a traumatic brain injury.
• Belgium Looks at Euthanasia for Minors, Others 12/19/2012 (AFP) - Belgium is considering a significant change to its decade-old euthanasia law that would allow minors and Alzheimer's sufferers to seek permission to die.
• Remembering a Boy Who Lived in a Nursing Home 12/18/2012 (charlotteobserver.com) - Orlando "Shoney" Barrier was only 13 in January 1996, when he collapsed on the basketball court at Concord Middle School and never woke up.
• E.J. Dionne Wrong About Independent Payment Advisory Board 12/17/2012 (NRO) - E.J. Dionne, defender of all things liberal, has come to the support of the anti-liberty Independent Payment Advisory Board. From, Unreason on Healthcare:
• Family of Teen in a "PVS" Believes He Will Walk Again 12/14/2012 (MailOnline) - A teenager left in a persistent vegetative state after being deprived of oxygen for 15 minutes is showing such progress his family is convinced he'll one day walk again.
• New Head Trauma Research Shows Greater Dangers 12/13/2012 (gosanangelo.com) - No one seems to know exactly how forceful or frequent head trauma has to be to result in long-term brain damage, but researchers are accumulating grim evidence that it may not take all that much.
• Holiday Miracle: Injured Soldier Returns Home 12/12/2012 (News Channel 3) - You've gotta call Army Private Taylor Odom, a holiday miracle. Just a month ago he lay near death in a Colorado Hospital after a military training accident left him with brain injuries and broken bones "I really don't remember anything about the accident, just what I'm told happened, that's all I know" Odom said from his Nesbit home.
• Toronto Man at Heart of Landmark Right To Live Case 12/11/2012 (National Post) - Remarkable new tests that let scientists communicate with some vegetative patients have been tried on a desperately ill Toronto man at the heart of a landmark court case, suggesting that Hassan Rasouli is at a "very low level" of consciousness.
• Attorney Joins Center on Disability in the Public Square as Senior Researcher 12/11/2012 Contact: Mary Foley, The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, 484-278-4287, [email protected]
• Belgian Euthanasia: Off the Moral Cliff 12/10/2012 (NRO) - Euthanasia activists always promise that the killing will be strictly controlled. That's the sales job. Once euthanasia/assisted suicide become legal and/or culturally accepted, all bets are off. Accept the ideology that killing is an acceptable answer to human suffering and the guidelines cease to matter.
• Living Well Awards Honor Disabled, Those Who Help 12/08/2012 (pennlive.com) - It has been a long road of recovery for Miguel Cubilette of Steelton, who sustained a traumatic brain injury in a severe car accident seven years ago. But his progress has been inspiring.
• Vermont Governor 'Confident' Assisted Suicide Will Pass Next Year 12/07/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Despite strong opposition from pro-life forces and a recent high-profile defeat in neighboring Massachusetts, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin said last week he is confident the state legislature will pass a bill legalizing assisted suicide during the next session.
• N.J. Voters Support Doctor-Assisted Suicide, Poll Shows 12/06/2012 (nj.com) - Voters support physician-assisted suicide in New Jersey, according to a new poll released this morning. The Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll of 433 New Jersey voters found that 46 percent support Assemblyman John Burzichelli's (D-Gloucester) "Death with Dignity Act," while 38 percent oppose it.
• Killing Them Softly? 12/05/2012 (Ken Connor/Townhall.com) - During the months leading up to the passage of Obamacare, Sarah Palin was mocked and excoriated for her use of the term "death panels" to describe the comparative effectiveness approach embraced by architects of the legislation.
• Sedated to Death Without Permission in UK 12/04/2012 (NRO) - Patients are not individuals in centralized healthcare systems. Rather, they become members of checklist categories on bureaucratic check lists.
• Terri Schiavo: Her Legacy Lives 12/03/2012 (North County Gazette) - Monday, Dec. 3, would have been the 49th birthday of Terri Schindler Schiavo. But on March 31, 2005, shortly after 9 a.m., Terri died at a Florida hospice as a result of the long, painful and barbaric process of the court-ordered execution by starvation when her estranged husband Michael Schiavo who had much to gain by her death removed her feeding tube which provided her nutrition and hydration.
• People Still Line Up to Show How Much They Care 12/02/2012 (Lancaster Online) - When we first started going to Breakfast with Santa at the Neffsville Community Fire Company, my daughters were little girls who wore hot-pink and green faux-fur jackets with teddy bear zipper pulls. Santa mentions those jackets year after year. (He remembers everything.)

November

• Doctor's Haunting Admission: Dehydrated Disabled Babies in UK Hospitals 11/30/2012 (Mail Online) - Sick children are being discharged from NHS hospitals to die at home or in hospices on controversial 'death pathways'. Until now, end of life regime the Liverpool Care Pathway was thought to have involved only elderly and terminally-ill adults.
• Hoping for Recovery After a Traumatic Brain Injury 11/29/2012 (philly.com) - More than seven months since he was nearly killed by a hit-and-run driver, 17-year-old David Silva lay Wednesday in a hospital bed set up in his family's dining room in Tacony, where a nurse makes sure he doesn't rip out the tube that helps him breathe. 
• Life Issues Conference: The Value of All Human Life 11/28/2012 (diometuchen.org) - More than 250 participants showed their support for the sanctity of life at the 11th annual Critical Life Issues Conference held last month at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center.
• Imaging Technique Shows Brain Can Heal After Injury  11/27/2012 (diagnosticimaging.com) - The brain's ability to compensate for a traumatic injury could result in a new approach to treatment, according to researchers at RSNA 2012. Rather than attempting to reverse damage to the brain, doctors may one day be able to encourage the brain to heal itself.
• Coming Soon to America? Assisted Suicide Sit-Com 11/26/2012 (American Thinker) - We've imported a lot of programs from the BBC in the last few years; "Homeland," "Top Gear," and "Antiques Roadshow" to name a few. How about a comedy on that side-splitting topic of assisted suicide?
• Ex-Wright State Volleyball Player Has 'Miracle' Comeback 11/23/2012 (Springfield News-Sun) - They identified her by her wedding ring and just one boot. Andrea Voss Vellinga - former Wright State volleyball player and wife of onetime Dayton Bomber defenseman Mike Vellinga - had gone to an outdoor concert at the Indiana State Fair to see Sugarland, the country duo she loved.
• After Brain Injury, 10 Years of Rehabilitation 11/21/2012 (The Daily Record) - Even when her memory flagged, her determination to get her life back never did. Pamela Denise Tolliver, who has lived in Wooster since 1999, made a remarkable comeback from a devastating December 1994 car crash.
• Doctor: Acceptance of Euthanasia Heightens Patients’ Distrust of Medical Profession 11/20/2012 (MercatorNet) - I am an intensive care doctor in a Sydney hospital. I spend my days and nights amid flickering lights and beeping monitors in a small ward with desperately ill patients. 
• Stop Dehydrating the "Unconscious!" 11/19/2012 (NRO/Wesley J. Smith) - Scientists continue to communicate with people thought to be oblivious and without awareness. From the BBC story: "A Canadian man who was believed to have been in a vegetative state for more than a decade, has been able to tell scientists that he is not in any pain.
• Terri's Life & Hope Network Monthly Newsletter! 11/16/2012 (Life & Hope e-Newsletter) - Terri's Life & Hope November e-Newsletter! Our monthly e-Newsletter gives you the latest news updates on issues relating to this growing attack on our medically vulnerable sisters and brothers, as well as our upcoming events and other information keeping you well informed!
• Breakthrough Treatment for Survivors of TBI 11/15/2012 (News Medical) - The first treatment breakthrough of its kind for survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) or stroke will be published in the December 1 issue of the journal CNS Drugs, with an accompanying editorial.
• Injured Vets, Others Say Oxygen Treatments Restorative 11/14/2012 (denverpost.com) - This Veterans Day, hundreds of thousands of injured troops are suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) with no definitive treatment. What if they could be healed?
• PRESS RELEASE! Another Case of Person Thought to be 'Vegetative' Diagnosed Incorrectly 11/14/2012 Yet Court Refused Similar Tests for Terri Schiavo 
• Man in "PVS" Communicates, He's Not in Pain 11/13/2012 (BBC) - A Canadian man who was believed to have been in a vegetative state for more than a decade, has been able to tell scientists that he is not in any pain.
• A Child's Sad Death in a Florida Nursing Home 11/12/2012 (Bradenton Herald) - For 14 years, Doris Freyre cared for her profoundly disabled daughter in her modest Tampa home, pureeing fresh fruit, yams and vegetables and surrounding the girl with family photos and pictures of angels.
• Neuroscience Presentation Brings Miracle Story to Brandeis 11/09/2012 (The Brandeis Hoot) - Peggy Sue Lebba, who suffered a traumatic brain injury that at one point rendered her incapable of communicating with others, shared her remarkable story of recovery at an event sponsored by the Brandeis Neuroscience Club on Monday evening.
• From Ironman to Brain Surgery and Back Again 11/08/2012 (Daily Pennsylvanian) - Ironman races are grueling. Recovering from intensive brain surgery might be even harder. Candace Gantt is one of the few people who can actually compare the two from experience.
• Wesley J. Smith: There Will Be Death Panels 11/07/2012 (NRO) - The people of the United States ensured an Obamacare future by apparently reelecting President Obama and maintaining a Democratic Senate. Here are the immediate consequences:
• Backers of Doctor-Assisted Suicide Concede 11/07/2012 (AP) - Supporters of a ballot question legalizing physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill in Massachusetts have conceded defeat, even though the vote is too close to call. A spokesman for the Death With Dignity Act campaign said in a statement early Wednesday that "regrettably, we fell short."
• Special Team: Chy and Her Boys 11/06/2012 (By Rick Reilly/ESPN.com) - How about a little good news? In the scrub-brush desert town of Queen Creek, Ariz., high school bullies were throwing trash at sophomore Chy Johnson. Calling her "stupid." Pushing her in the halls.
• Bill Maher's Bigoted Mocking of Terri Schiavo 11/05/2012 (By Mark P. Mostert, Ph.D./WND) - The ugly side of humanity has always had problem with Terri Schiavo - mostly because it's easy to beat up on people who can't defend themselves.
• Brain Injury Survivor in for the Long Haul 11/03/2012 (ReporterHearld.com) - Audrey Bocock was a professional triathlete and was third in the nation in her age group. She was accepted into medical school. She was going to be a trauma surgeon. "I would have been a great surgeon," she said.
• Brain Injury Survivors Help Each Other Recover 11/01/2012 (HawaiiNewsNow) - More than two million Americans sustain brain injuries each year. There are few programs in Hawaii that help patients transition from hospital and acute care into the community, but we found one that helped change them - right before our very eyes.

October

• Jewish Physician: Assisted Suicide Will Ruin Medical Profession 10/31/2012 (Catholic Free Press) - A Jewish doctor told Catholics he wants physician-assisted suicide to remain illegal - because it has never been part of medicine and may destroy the medical profession in its moral foundations.
• "Plant Rights" on NPR 10/30/2012 (NRO) - The environmental movement is growing increasingly radical and anti human. Taking a beat from the animal rights movement, we have seen increasing advocacy for human-stifling agendas such as "nature rights" ...
• Youngster Back on Her Feet Following Recovery from Brain Injury 10/29/2012 (Wellington Daily) - Brisa Bustos points to her mouth and says, "Guess what I lost?" The six-year-old doesn't wait for an answer and quickly blurts out "My tooth!" 
• Nurses Set to Oppose Assisted Suicide 10/28/2012 (NRO) - The American Nursing Association has a draft opinion out reiterating its opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide. It is well worth the read. From the draft opinion:
• Bill Maher: The Pope is Consistently Pro-Life. I'm Consistently Pro-Death 10/26/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - During a radio broadcast earlier this month, shock comedian Bill Maher contrasted himself with Pope Benedict XVI in the starkest of terms: "The Pope is consistently pro-life. I'm consistently pro-death."
• Doctor Sentenced to Life for Mercy Killing 10/25/2012 (The National) - A doctor who carried out the mercy killing of a quadriplegic patient was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for premeditated murder. Eugen Adelsmayr, 50, switched off Ghulam Mohammed's life-support machine and increased his morphine dose, causing him to have a fatal heart attack.
• TBI Treatment Improves After 10 Years of War 10/24/2012 (FederalNewsRadio) - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most stubborn and long-lasting problems produced by 10 years of war, but there is progress in its treatment. "The brain is a wonderful thing, and it is plastic," said Dr. Andrew Ritcheson, senior consulting psychologist and program manager at contractor DRC. 
• Girl Wakes as Doctors Were Preparing to Harvest Her Organs 10/23/2012 (Mail Online) - A teenage girl in a coma after a catastrophic car crash came round just as doctors were about to declare her brain dead. Carina Melchior had had life support withdrawn on the advice of medics and was being prepared for organ donation.
• Release: Life & Hope Network Establishes Research and Education Center! 10/23/2012 Contact: Mary Foley, The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, 484-278-4287, [email protected]
• Suit: Doctors Mistakenly Declared Chicago Boy Dead 10/22/2012 (AP) - The parents of an 8-year-old boy who has had severe brain damage for years have sued a Chicago hospital, alleging that doctors pronounced their son dead, keeping him off his ventilator for hours, even though relatives continued to insist that the boy's eyes and body were still moving.
• NPR Audience Wants End of Life Care Rationed for the Elderly 10/21/2012 (Human Exceptionism) - By centralizing control of health care, Obamacare will cause us to turn on each other to grab bigger pieces of the medical pie. The elderly will be among the first victims, as has already happened in the UK.
• Miracle Child Continues to Fight After Brain Injury 10/18/2012 (CapeGazette.com) - Lilly Barnett is 10 years old. Fifteen months ago, she nearly died in a crash on Route 1 near Milford. Her limp body was flown to A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington. Lilly was unresponsive; she had broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a bruised liver and a brain injury so severe children rarely survive it.
• Family Revive Father Doctors Ruled Wasn't Worth Saving 10/17/2012 (Mail Online) - The family of a 48-year-old man have told how they rescued him from dying on the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway by reviving him with drops of water. Andy Flanagan's family were told that he was severely brain damaged, had organ failure and was close to death after a cardiac arrest.
• NHS Age Discrimination A Warning About Obamacare 10/16/2012 (NRO) - The United Kingdom's National Health Service rations care and, evidence shows, discriminates against the elderly. Now, the Royal College of Surgeons finds that elderly patients are being denied life-saving surgery based on age rather than fitness.
• More Than $100 Million for Brain Injury, PSTD Research 10/15/2012 (My Edmonds News) - The way Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are diagnosed and treated is about to get a major overhaul. Or at least that is the hope as the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense announced they are investing more than $100 million in research to improve diagnosis and treatment of both maladies.
• Woman with MS Commits Suicide After Visit from 'Dr Death' Euthanasia Website 10/13/2012 (Telegraph) - A woman suffering from multiple sclerosis took a fatal overdose after a suicide website sent an advocate to her care home to discuss euthanasia.
• Terri's Life & Hope Monthly Newsletter! 10/12/2012 (Terri's Network) - Please take a few minutes to read Terri's Life & Hope monthly newsletter highlighting the past months headline stories from around the world. You can see our upcoming events and also read the different ways you can support our efforts to protect the value and dignity of our medically vulnerable. Thank you!
• 12-Year-Old Boy Doctors Wanted to Die Now In Rehab 10/12/2012 (NRO) - Look into the future if Obamacare remains. Texas has a futile care law permitting a hospital bioethics panel to refuse wanted life-sustaining treatment if they don't think the patient's life is worth the cost or has sufficient quality. It is like the old signs over restaurant doors, "We reserve the right to refuse service." 
• Assisted Suicide for the Terminally Ill Gets Support from N.J. Legislators 10/11/2012 (NJ Law Journal) - New Jersey legislators are pushing for adoption of a law that would make New Jersey the third state, after Oregon and Washington, to allow assisted suicide.
• There is No "Right to Die" 10/10/2012 (NRO) - The tragic case of Sung Eun Grace Lee, the 28-year-old banker dying of brain cancer, made headlines when she won a lawsuit against her parents to have her respirator removed, and then changed her mind. But let's leave the Lees alone.
• Please Step Back From the Assisted-Suicide Ledge  10/09/2012 (By Fr. Tad Pacholczyk /Wall Street Journal) - In the November elections, voters in Massachusetts will decide on "Question 2," a ballot initiative to allow physicians to prescribe (but not administer) a lethal dose of a toxic drug to assist their patients in committing suicide. Advocates of physician-assisted suicide assure us that this can be a good choice for someone who is dying, or who wants to die.
• Patients Starve and Die of Thirst on Hospital Wards  10/08/2012 (The Telegraph) - Forty-three hospital patients starved to death last year and 111 died of thirst while being treated on wards, new figures disclose today. 
• Woman Who Fought to Die Has Change of Heart 10/07/2012 (ABC News) - A terminally ill woman who battled her deeply religious parents in court over her right to die has had a change of heart. Grace SungEun Lee, 28, who is battling brain cancer, signed a healthcare proxy today designating her father, Rev. Manho Lee, as her primary health care decision maker, Lee's court appointed attorney, David Smith, told ABC station WABC-TV in New York.
• Quebec to Legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide 10/05/2012 (CJAD) - Quebec's new government plans to table legislation legalizing doctor-assisted suicide by this spring. "We really feel that it is necessary to put forward such a possibility for people who, at the end of their life, are suffering in an unbearable manner," says social services junior minister Véronique Hivon.
• Good News for Euthanasia Advocates - Deaths Are Up 10/04/2012 (Vancouver Sun) - The slippery slope just keeps on get-ting longer and steeper. When the debate about euthanasia began in the Netherlands decades ago, proponents insisted that it should and would only be made available to terminally ill, elderly people, who were suffering and in full control of their mental faculties. Period.
• Battling Back From a Traumatic Brain Injury 10/03/2012 (SFGate) - Much of the recent attention on traumatic brain injury has focused on the increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases doctors think recurrent injuries may lead to. But transportation accidents and falls, particularly among the elderly, are leading causes of TBI, and one serious head injury can be devastating.
• Lawsuit: Organ Donor Network's 'Shameful Practices' 10/02/2012 (silive.com) - The New York Organ Donor Network pressured hospitals to declare patients brain dead to facilitate organ harvesting, including one instance where a patient showed a "clear sign" of brain activity during transplant surgery at Richmond University Medical Center, a lawsuit charges.
• It's a Joke to Call Obamacare Conservative 10/01/2012 (NRO) - Just about the only occasions the New York Times allows conservatives entry into the paper's op/ed pages are when they bash other conservatives or support liberal public policies. We saw that pattern repeated in the 9/30 edition when American Enterprise Institute resident fellow, J. D. Kleinke, wrote in praise of Obamacare as conservative. From, "The Conservative Case for Obamacare:"

September

• Psychiatric Patients Euthanized in the Netherlands 9/29/2012 (NRO) - Rick Santorum got into trouble a few months ago for making some pointed criticisms of euthanasia in the Netherlands. As I pointed out at the time, his details were somewhat off, but the substance of his critique was spot on.
• Teens Beat 'Mentally Challenged' Woman for Fun 9/28/2012 (Washington Post) - Four teenage girls were being held Friday on $50,000 bail on charges they beat a neighbor on her stoop just "for fun" and then posted cellphone video of the attack on Facebook, authorities said.
• Lawsuit Contends Pressure to Declare Brain Dead 9/27/2012 (New York Post) - The New York Organ Donor Network pressured hospital staffers to declare patients brain dead so their body parts could be harvested - and even hired "coaches" to train staffers how to be more persuasive, a bombshell lawsuit charged yesterday.
• California QB in Critical Condition After Suffering Traumatic Brain Injury 9/26/2012 (Yahoo Sports) - Wildomar Cornerstone Christian (Calif.) High quarterback Ryan "Dax" McGregor is currently listed in critical but stable condition after suffering a head injury during a game against Avalon (Calif.) High on Friday night.
• How Assisted Suicide Hurts Suicide Prevention 9/25/2012 (First Things) - My biweekly On the Square today deals with the wave of suicide prevention. I partly blame the assisted suicide movement and the suicide prevention community's failure to grapple with the pro advocacy of the "death with dignity" crowd.
• Hippocrates' Last Stand 9/24/2012 (NRO) - Imagine it's 1967. Abortion, except in rare cases, is illegal everywhere in the United States. You can't imagine that in 45 years abortion will be one of the most contentious political issues in America, and that virtually everyone in the country will be touched by it.
• Power Grab: Our Technocratic Future 9/23/2012 (Weekly Standard) - To paraphrase Freud: Liberals, what do they really want? Not the communism or socialism of the right's fever dreams. They know that didn't work. Today's liberal agenda is more akin to the corporatist vision of the 1920s and '30s-an economy in which the state directs the activities of the private sector to achieve ideologically desired ends.
• Six-Year-Old Gaining Ground in Her Recovery 9/21/2012 (DodgeGlobe.com) - Six-year-old Brisa Bustos has covered a lot of ground in her journey to recovery. Brisa was transferred to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Neb. in early August after being hit by an alleged drunk driver July 18 in front of her home in Dodge City.
• More Death Panel Advocacy in New York Times 9/20/2012 (Secondhand Smoke) - The New York Times uses its op/ed page as a supplement to its editorial page-that is, most of the articles published reflect the views of the editors. Letters to the Editor, too.
• Assisted Suicide Gains Support in Massachusetts 9/19/2012 (Ballot News) - A s November 6 approaches, new polls show Question 2 and Question 3 with significant and growing support. However, prominent health care providers and other groups continue to fight back, releasing statements of opposition to both measures.
• Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network Monthly Newsletter! 9/19/2012 State of Florida Warehousing Disabled Kids in Nursing Homes - (CBS/AP) Federal investigators say Florida officials are violating federal law by unnecessarily warehousing hundreds of children with disabilities in geriatric nursing homes.
• Lawsuit Reveals Danger of Single Payer 9/18/2012 (First Things) - This may seem counter intuitive, but a lawsuit filed in California against HealthNet Insurance, for allegedly denying coverage for life-saving medical treatment, illustrates the danger of single payer health coverage. First, the story from the L.A. County Medical Association Press Release, and then my reasoning:
• Euthanasia Campaigner Faces Another Challenge 9/17/2012 (ABC News) - An inquiry into Dr Nitscke's (pictured) application to import the euthanasia drug nembutal was launched by the Australian Medical Board last year. He is now facing a second investigation, into his role in promoting and importing nitrogen cylinders that can be used for euthanasia, and his suitability to practise medicine.
• Pro-Euthanasia Filmmaker: Italy Too Catholic to Legalize Killing of Disabled 9/15/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An Italian filmmaker responsible for a recently released movie on the starvation of comatose patient Eluana Englaro has given an interview to the French Press Agency lamenting that it's impossible to legalize the killing of the disabled in Italy, because of the influence of the Catholic faith.
• Medicine or a Miracle? 9/14/2012 (Northwest Herald) - Aug. 16 was circled on many calendars of those with children in District 200. It was the first day of a new school year, and not anything new or particularly special for most kids. But for Woodstock High School senior Morgan Hofmann, that Thursday was a milestone and a day his family feared might not come.
• Sleeping Pill Awakens Unconscious Patient 9/13/2012 (First Things) - Some time ago, doctors discovered that Ambien could bring apparently unconscious patients back to awareness, although the effect would sometimes fade as the drug wore off. A case in South Africa has repeated the phenomenon.
• Eugenics Silently Returns to Germany 9/12/2012 (Kurt Kondrich /LifeSiteNews.com) - This week I read a very disturbing article titled "New prenatal test is bringing eugenics back to Germany," and I could not help but think of the famous quote from American philosopher George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
• New Battleground in Doctor-Assisted Suicide Debate 9/11/2012 (Stateline) - "Right-to-die" advocates have mounted a high-profile initiative campaign in what might seem to be unlikely territory: heavily Catholic Massachusetts.
• New Zealand Grants "Rights" to a River 9/10/2012 (First Things) - I keep warning that this "nature rights" movement is beginning to bite, and people keep rolling their eyes. But New Zealand just granted rights to a river. From the New Zealand Herald story:
• Fla. Warehousing Disabled Kids in Nursing Homes 9/08/2012 (CBS/AP) - Federal investigators say Florida officials are violating federal law by unnecessarily warehousing hundreds of children with disabilities in geriatric nursing homes.
• Planned Parenthood Insider Now Works for Assisted Suicide Group 9/07/2012 (LifeNews.com) - When Compassion & Choices, formerly The Hemlock Society, convened its June 2012 conference, former Planned Parenthood insider Theresa Connor, now director of government affairs with the assisted suicide group, was a featured speaker.
• NFL Funds Brain-Injury Study 9/06/2012 (Wall Street Journal) - Opening night of the National Football League arrived Wednesday amid renewed discussion of head injuries and a $30 million grant provided by the NFL to study brain injuries and other sports-related health issues.
• Flu Medicine May Help TBI Patients 9/04/2012 (WLS) - An old medicine approved for a different ailment is bringing new hope to traumatic brain injury patients. Caused by car crashes, falls, or assaults, every year 1.7 million Americans suffer a traumatic brain injury. Now, something approved decades ago for a much different ailment is helping speed recovery for some.
• Quadriplegic Finds Meaning in Life Despite Handicap 9/02/2012 (Lake Stevens Journal) - Forty-five years ago, a teenager named Joni Eareckson dove into the shallow water of Chesapeake Bay. In seconds, her life changed from athletic to quadriplegic. She was paralyzed from her shoulders down, due to a broken neck.

August

• Ft. Hood Soldiers Subject of Traumatic Brain Injury Study 8/31/2012 (examiner.com) - An unfinished military study has found that nearly six percent of soldiers engaged in hand-to-hand combat training have suffered from concussions. Researchers have studied soldiers involved in combat training classes at Ft. Hood, drawing from a pool of about 2,000 troops.
• Suicide Pushers Impact UK Statistics 8/30/2012 (First Things) - They must be so proud-the ghouls who give people moral permission to kill themselves and then teach them how to do it with helium. Now, enough people are doing themselves in with this method that the increase is reflected in UK death statistics.
• Disabled Veterans Still Wait in Limbo 8/29/2012 (Raw Story) - Veterans waiting for decisions from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs can wait for months, sometimes even years for rulings on their cases and the awarding of benefits.
• Physician-Assisted Suicide Poisons the Mission of Medicine  8/28/2012 (Globe and Mail) - Recent events suggest that the assisted-suicide movement has gained momentum; reports from the Royal Society of Canada, the Quebec National Assembly and the British Columbia Supreme Court all support legalization of physician- assisted suicide. But the case is not closed. Confusion reigns.
• Medical Journals Show Increasing Support for Euthanasia 8/27/2012 (LifeNews.com) - Primum non nocere. First do no harm. This edict has been part of medical ethics since the time of the ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates, in the fifth century B.C. It is found in the Hippocratic Corpus, a collection of medical writing attributed to Hippocrates.
• Things to Know About Traumatic Brain Injury 8/26/2012 (Daily Press) - Traumatic brain injuries, TBIs, occur at an astounding rate -- between 1.7 and 3.8 million annually, according to the CDC. (Consider the numbers for breast cancer, 176,000 or HIV/AIDS, 43,600). TBIs are associated with approximately 30.5 percent of injury-related deaths.
• Root of Self Awareness Eludes Researchers 8/24/2012 (First Things) - Consciousness. True self-aware consciousness: It is one of the exceptional attributes of human nature, present in all of us barring immaturity or injury. And scientists still can't figure out what it is all about.
• Rise in TBI's Among Vets and Athletes Prompts Research 8/23/2012 (PR-USA.net) - Since 2000, approximately 245,000 men and women who have served in the military have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, otherwise known as TBI. The majority of those cases were mild; but, even mild traumatic brain injuries can be highly disruptive to daily life.
• Genetically Engineered Babies Are Moral Duty, "Ethics" Guru Claims 8/22/2012 (New American) - Prominent so-called "ethicist" and Oxford University Professor Julian Savulescu claims that humanity has a "moral obligation" to genetically engineer children - essentially creating "designer babies" - to make them into better people, sparking an outcry among critics who claim such morally repugnant practices would be akin to playing God.
• Forced Dehydration for 12-Year-Old Gunshot Victim? 8/21/2012 (First Things) - Texas has an awful futile care law. It permits hospital bioethics committees to impose members/doctors' values that a patient's life is not worth living based on quality of life. A story just out shows the injustice of the process-a terrible law ...
• UK Denies Right-To-Die Legal Challenge 8/20/2012 (AP) - Britain's High Court on Thursday rejected an attempt by a man who has locked-in syndrome to overturn the country's euthanasia law by refusing to legally allow doctors to end his life.
• Mom Seeks Heart Transplant for Autistic Son 8/18/2012 (AP) - A Pennsylvania woman whose autistic adult son was not recommended for a heart transplant said she wants to bring more attention to the decision-making process so that those with ailments or disabilities are not passed over without careful consideration.
• Euthanasia is a Cultural Addiction 8/16/2012 (First Things) - The Netherlands opened the doors to euthanasia way back in 1973. Since then, it has fallen off a vertical moral cliff with the killing agenda having spread to the pediatric wards, the mentally ill, and now stalking the elderly "tired of life"-all reported here and in my other writings.
• Machine Helps Veterans Recover From Brain Injuries 8/15/2012 (Fox News) - A machine designed to give athletes an edge is helping military veterans battle back from brain injuries. The Dynavision 2, or D-2, looks like a game, but it's an important part of therapy at the Shepherd Center. When Jonathan Henderson first took on the D-2 back in May, he thought it looked silly.
• March For Life Founder Nellie Gray Passes Away 8/14/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - One of the leading lights of the pro-life movement in the United States has gone out. Nellie Gray (pictured), the charismatic octogenarian founder of the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., the largest annual pro-life event in the country, passed away over the weekend, and was discovered in her apartment earlier today.
• Court Upholds Exemption, Allows Assisted Suicide 8/13/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a ruling today, Justice Jo-Ann Prowse of the BC Court of Appeals - the highest court in the province, ruled to permit ALS patient Gloria Taylor to retain a constitutional exemption permitting her to end her life by assisted suicide or euthanasia.
• Doctors Study Use of Progesterone in Treating Brain Injuries 8/12/2012 (KDKA) - Kevin Conwell, 21, injured his head in June 2011. He was on his way to work as a summer camp counselor when his car flipped. Since he was alone, no one knows for sure what happened - even Kevin. "I just remember, like, waking up in a car with like ambulances," he says.
• Ex-Navy Sailor Convicted in Assisted Suicide 8/10/2012 (Press Democrat) - A former Navy enlisted sailor who graduated from Willits High School has been sentenced to five years in prison for helping a senior non-commissioned officer commit suicide in Virginia, according to the Virginian-Pilot newspaper.
• Head Injury a Silent Epidemic in Student Athletes, Expert Warns 8/09/2012 (Noozhawk) - Encouraging student athletes to "just play through it" may be a thing of the past when it comes to head injuries suffered while engaged in impact sports. That was the message that backers of a talk called "Solving the Concussion Crisis" hoped parents and coaches would come away with Monday night.
• Law Expands TBI Treatment for Veterans 8/08/2012 (Arkansas News) - Veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury will receive broader rehabilitation services as part of a larger VA bill that President Obama signed into law on Monday. "Signing this legislation into law is a great victory for our veterans and their families who are fighting the unseen injuries of war," said Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., who sponsored the provision.
• Murderer Wins Right to be Executed Over Objection of Pro Death Governor 8/07/2012 (First Things) - Ironies upon ironies: The current governor of Oregon, John Kitzhaber is a big fan of his state's assisted suicide law. But he opposes the death penalty, even though the people of that state have twice voted to retain it.
• The Ghouls are Coming: Pre-Death Organ Harvest 8/06/2012 (By Mark P. Mostert, Ph.D.) - The work philosophers do is often shrouded in mystery. Tucked away in the dank halls of academia, they spend their dull lives writing books that very few ever read - or care about. Their social life consists of debating obscure concepts with their drab colleagues and attending equally rancid conventions where their intellectual exercises in thinking a great deal about very little are amplified a hundredfold. That’s the stereotype, anyway. Think again.
• How Should Clinicians Respond to New Therapeutic Interventions? 8/03/2012 (ScienceDaily) - New tools have confirmed high rates of misdiagnosis of patients with chronic disorders of consciousness, such as the vegetative state. An increasing number of patients' families wish to use these novel techniques for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. 
• UK Suggests Ethically Controversial Strategies to Increase Organ Donations 8/02/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The UK's National Health Service (NHS) has launched a survey asking health professionals and the public to weigh in on several ethically controversial strategies to increase organ donations.
• Assisted Suicide 'In Direct Conflict' With Doctor's Role 8/01/2012 (Boston.com) - Physicians, in their care of patients, must establish a physician-patient relationship based on mutual trust and respect to be able to render the best care to their patients. Centuries ago the physician Hippocrates wrote the Hippocratic Oath, which many of us took when we became physicians and guides us in the ethical practice of medicine.

July

• Florida's Most Vulnerable in Danger of Abuse 7/31/2012 (TBO.com) - Recent newspaper investigations have found rampant abuse and neglect in Florida's assisted-living facilities and now at a rehabilitation center for brain-injured patients in Hardee County. What these stories have in common is an indictment of Florida's regulators.
• Wisconsin Bishops Warn Against POLST End of Care Document 7/30/2012 (LifeSiteNews) - In a statement issued yesterday, the Roman Catholic bishops of Wisconsin are warning against the end of life care document called Physician (or Provider) Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST). The bishops are concerned that use of this document could lead to acts of euthanasia. 
• Assisted Suicide Backers Confident They'll Win in Massachusetts 7/29/2012 (LIfeNews.com) - Massachusetts is the latest battleground over euthanasia with an initiative on the ballot in November to adopt a statute similar to those in Oregon and Washington, which allow physicians to prescribe suicide for their patients.
• What Still Shocks Me About ObamaCare 7/27/2012 (By Nat Hentoff) - Amid the huge response - both triumphant and agonized - to the Supreme Court's preservation of Obamacare, I was surprised at how little attention was being paid to that law's core purpose: to strongly control health care costs where government funding is involved, as it increasingly will be.
• Death Panels on Steroids 7/26/2012 (Daily Caller) - If you want to see what direction health care is going, just read the July 12 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Of course, reading a medical journal isn't on most people's "to do" lists. Even medical professionals who do read journal articles rarely do so to gain insight into the latest shifts in the cultural or political winds. That's a mistake.
• Filmmaker Turns Camera on Corruption 7/25/2012 (stargazett.com) - Filmmaker and activist William Windsor is a man on a mission, and that mission brought him to Elmira on Thursday as he seeks to battle what he calls 14 categories of corruption.
• Nitschke Doubles Down on Death-on-Demand 7/23/2012 (First Things) - The assisted suicide movement is so full of pretense. It is "only" about terminal illness when nothing else can be done to end suffering, they coo. Baloney. Well, it is only for the "hopelessly ill." Baloney.
• Lexington Park Woman Returns Home One Year After Accident 7/21/2012 (SoMdNews.com) - When Maria Morgan left for work on Monday, July 11, 2011, there was no way to know it would take her an entire year to get back home.
• Doctors Kill In 14% of Dutch Deaths 7/20/2012 (First Things) - I grow weary of the continual attempts to spin and cover up the depth of the death culture of the Netherlands. For example, recently, articles have celebrated the official 2.8% euthanasia rate. But that doesn't include assisted suicide (0.2) and the fact that 23% of euthanasia deaths are unreported.
• Family Copes With Life After Tragedy 7/19/2012 (Go Erie) - The wife knocks on the door and walks into her husband's room. It is not in their house. It is not where their two young children live. She says hello and kisses him on his forehead. His head droops, because the muscles in his spine and neck are weakening.
• People with Severe Dementia Should be Starved and Dehydrated to Death 7/18/2012 (Peter Saunders) - There is an editorial in the British Medical Journal this week by a retired professor of philosophy titled 'Sanctity of life law has gone too far'. Raanan Gillon reviews the case of M, a woman in minimally conscious state, who was the subject of a court of protection ruling last year.
• Rethinking Youth Sports to Prevent Kids' Head Injuries 7/17/2012 (The Hill) - Youth sports are important. Now girls, as well as boys, have an opportunity to be physically active and learn new skills. Whether participating in an individual or group activity, sports teach children and young adults that hard work and personal discipline will help them achieve their personal best. 
• My Cup is Half Full 7/16/2012 (By Mark Pickup) - Last month, British Columbia Judge Lynn Smith declared Canada's laws banning assisted suicide unconstitutional. Apparently it is not fair for severely disabled people to be denied suicide when healthy and able-bodied people can take their own lives. Really? 
• When Doctors Give Warning 7/15/2012 (To The Source) - There is more than one way to skin a cat, the old politically incorrect saying goes. There is also more than one way to euthanize a patient. In England, there is concern that a legitimate pain controlling treatment-known as palliative sedation-is being used inappropriately under what is known as the Liverpool Care Pathway, to make people dead.
• Hospital Takes Away Wife's Rights to Care for Husband 7/13/2012 (Sun News) - Seniors at Risk work to assist seniors and their families who have experienced institutional elder abuse by health care providers, facilities and public agencies. One of the cases is the case of a Pickering man, Arthur Hippe, who is hospitalized as a result of a stroke, and his spouse Marilyn Nelson whose legal authority to make decisions on his behalf is being ignored by the Ajax Pickering General Hospital. 
• Oregon Assisted Suicide Not "Last Resort" 7/12/2012 (Secondhand Smoke) - The New England Journal of Medicine has long advocated assisted suicide in its pages. It now has a piece supposedly rebutting opponents of legalizing assisted suicide in Oregon. For example, it says that assisted suicide was not carried out on people with mental illnesses.
• Mother of Injured Veteran Spreading Word of Wounded Warrior Project 7/11/2012 (Stars and Stripes) - One month before Sgt. Shane Parsons had completed his service in the Army in September 2006, an improvised explosive device resulted in the loss of both of his legs above the knee and a traumatic brain injury that impaired his cognitive functions, including reading. 
• Death is Inevitable, Pain is Optional 7/10/2012 (Mail & Guardian) - Mark O'Rourke's hair was fashionably gelled. He stood up from his desk, moved past the magazine beach scenes adorning his pin board and extended a cheerful hand of greeting. He looked younger than his 32 years and his green eyes sparkled with an obvious zest for life. 
• Hospitals 'Letting Patients Die to Save Money' 7/09/2012 (The Telegraph) - Tens of thousands of patients with terminal illnesses are placed on a "death pathway" to help end their lives every year. However, in a letter to The Daily Telegraph, six doctors warn that hospitals may be using the controversial scheme to reduce strain on hospital resources.
• Prisoners Should Not be Allowed to Starve Themselves to Death 7/08/2012 (First Things) - I case in the UK raised my eyebrow-as so much happening there does these days. A convicted murderer in a mental hospital wants to starve himself to death, but can't because he is not in a prison-where he apparently could. 
• Drug Triggers Neuron Growth, Potential to Regenerate Brain Cells 7/06/2012 (Canadian Press) - A drug commonly used to control Type 2 diabetes can help trigger stem cells to produce new brain cells, providing hope of a potential means to treat brain injuries and even neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, researchers say. 
• Mother Claims She Had to Fight Hospital for Son's Life 7/05/2012 (NBC San Diego) - The mother of a toddler claims she has had to fight hospital administrators to keep her son on life support. Two-year-old Zody Cervantes had meningitis and suffered a seizure in an emergency room nearly two months ago. 
• Neglected Patient Dies of Dehydration After Calling Police for Help 7/03/2012 (Daily Mail) - A young patient who died of dehydration at a leading teaching hospital phoned police from his bed because he was so thirsty, an inquest heard yesterday. Officers arrived at Kane Gorny's bedside, but were told by nurses that he was in a confused state and were sent away.
• Terri's Life & Hope Network Newsletter! 7/02/2012 (e-Newsletter) - As you know, Terri's Life & Hope Network is battling - everyday - for individuals and their families trying to protect their loved ones from an anti-life climate occurring in our country. The only way we can continue protecting our medically vulnerable is with your support.

June

• Obamacare Ruling Reflects Technocratic Imperative 6/29/2012 (Daily Caller) - Why is anyone surprised? Obamacare was never going to be overturned. Not that it is constitutional, as the Constitution was originally conceived. It surely isn't. But that Constitution has been terminally ill for a long time. Now it is dead.
• Doctors Reject Assisted Suicide 6/28/2012 (Christian Institute) - Doctors have reiterated their opposition to assisted suicide and voted down a motion calling for their union to adopt a 'neutral' stance on the issue.
• Swiss Vote Brings Death-Peddlers into Nursing Homes 6/26/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Citizens of the Swiss canton Vaud voted last Sunday in a referendum to bring the business of death into nursing homes and hospitals. When the new law goes into effect, doctors will be forced to comply with the demands of eligible people who request assisted suicide or face legal consequences.
• Oak Forest Boy’s Road to Recovery 6/25/2012 (SouthtownStar) - The gray T-shirt Alex Fitzgerald wore simply said, "Impossible is nothing." If not for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish logo on it, one easily could take it as being the 12-year-old's own personal motto.
• Top Doctor's Chilling Claim: The NHS Kills 130,000 Elderly Patients Every Year 6/23/2012 (Daily Mail) - NHS doctors are prematurely ending the lives of thousands of elderly hospital patients because they are difficult to manage or to free up beds, a senior consultant claimed yesterday.
• Finding the Consciousness in "Unconscious" People Worth the Cost? 6/22/2012 (First Things) - Patients diagnosed as persistently unconscious may be the most scorned people on earth. I mean, who else could be called a turnip or carrot with impunity?
• Winona Man Bounces Back After Traumatic Brain Injury 6/21/2012 (KTTC) - We all fear the worst at certain times but what happens when those fears are realized? 11 years ago a Winona man found himself in that situation, fighting for his life. Now, Adrian Torbenson is sharing his love of music and poetry.
• Is There a "Right to Death?" 6/20/2012 (Secondhand Smoke) - The right to life is morphing before our very eyes into a right to death. Witness the recent Canadian judge who ruled, in essence, that there is a right to suicide because it isn't a crime to kill oneself.
• Bringing Andrea Back from Brain Injury: A Father's Story 6/19/2012 (MSN) - I had done all my crying weeks before. But pacing a hospital hallway -- as nurses changed the diapers of my silent, blank-faced, 20-year-old daughter in the room behind me -- I asked my wife for a hug.
• BC Judge Creates 'Right' to Suicide 6/18/2012 (First Things) - We knew this was coming, because the fix was in: The BC Supreme Court Chief Justice has ruled that the law against assisted suicide is unconstitutional. From the CBC story:
• Thank God Hippocrates Was Pagan 6/15/2012 (Human Review) - To suggest that one cannot or should not defend the sanctity of human life in the public square by using publicly accessible secular language is to remove a necessary tool for making the case for valuing and protecting all human life.
• First Steps for TBI and Stroke Patients 6/14/2012 (Biodex) - When you walk into New Beginnings Community Center for Brain Injury Rehabilitation in Medford, NY, the welcoming feeling and positive energy permeate the building. Allyson Scerri, Founder & President, and Kate DiMeglio, Vice President, opened the state-of-the-art outpatient facility in April 2011, as a result of a common bond.
• Australia Awards Infanticide Guru Highest Civic Award 6/13/2012 (The Corner) - This is a disgrace: Peter Singer has won Australia's highest civic award. From the Princeton press release: Peter Singer, the Decamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University, has been awarded Australia's highest civic honor.
• Alzheimer's Vaccine Trial Proves Successful 6/12/2012 (ANI) - Scientists have found a new vaccine to be effective against Alzheimer's disease. The vaccine, CAD106, can prove a breakthrough in the search for a cure for this seriously debilitating dementia disease.
• Cannes Film Festival Awards Pro-Euthanasia Film 6/11/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Last Sunday, the Cannes film festival awarded the coveted Palme d'Or award to a film that portrays the "mercy killing" of an incapacitated loved one in a positive light.
• Abortion, Euthanasia Dominate Ethics Agenda at Annual Meeting 6/10/2012 (NRLC) - Abortion and euthanasia are to be debated at a major British Medical Association (BMA) meeting later this month. The BMA holds its annual representative meeting, where it sets policy for the next year, in Bournemouth in the last week of June.
• America to Supremes: Toss Obamacare! 6/09/2012 (First Things) - Some observers criticized the Obama Administration for trying to intimidate the Supreme Court after the Solicitor General's apparently disastrous oral argument in favor of the law.
• Ten-Month Coma Patient Sheds Tears After Hearing Fiancee's Voice 6/08/2012 (news.com.au) - The injuries Mathew Taylor had suffered in a motorbike crash were so severe that his devastated family were warned he may never wake up. But then came the phone call that would change everything.
• Genomic Eugenic Abortion Testing 6/07/2012 (First Things) - In a world in which all people are valued equally, testing the entire genome of a gestating fetus would be a splendid way to allow parents to prepare to care for a child born with special needs.
• Myers Park Senior Awakens From Coma, Set To Graduate  6/06/2012 (msnbc.com) - A Myers Park High School senior will do something in eight days that just a few months ago, his parents thought they'd never see - he's going to walk across the stage at his high school graduation.
• No to Human Organ Farms! 6/05/2012 (First Things) - Here we go again! The push to transform the most ill and disabled living human bodies into so many organ farms continues among some bioethicists and within organ transplant ethical discourse.
• Deathmonger Felos Still Exploiting Terri Schiavo 6/03/2012 (NCG) - After flying under the radar and staying out of the public's view for nearly six years, right-to-die proponent George Felos is back on the road again after using the Terri Schiavo case to promote his own ideological agenda while being compensated by monies that were to have been used for rehabilitation of the disabled woman to instead kill her.
• Global Right-To-Die Battle Descends On Zurich 6/01/2012 (worldcrunch.com) - Sparks are set to fly as groups on both sides of the right-to-die debate prepare to descend on Zurich - with just one street to divide them.

May

• Bill Would Strengthen Ban on Euthanasia 5/31/2012 (KATC) - A bid to strengthen Louisiana's ban on euthanasia is headed to the governor's desk after receiving final legislative passage.
• Accident Survivor Creates Support Community for Traumatic Brain Injury 5/30/2012 (WFAA.com) - Many doubted 28-year-old Michael Black would ever walk on his own again. Last year, Black was thrown from his SUV in a single-car, roll-over accident. Part of his skull had to be removed because of brain swelling.
• Oregon Docs Not Evaluating for Depression Before Assisted Suicide 5/29/2012 (LifeNews.com) - As required by law, the Public Health Department of the Oregon Health Authority has released its annual report for 2011 on physician-assisted suicides under that state's Death with Dignity Act (DWDA).
• In Treating Severe Brain Injuries, Doing More Pays Off, Study Finds 5/28/2012 (newsworks) - About 1.5 million Americans suffer a traumatic brain injury every year. It's also emerged as the leading injury in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Graduate Battles Back From Brain Injury 5/27/2012 (AP) - Kellan Henning was called back from the brink of death for a reason. Maybe it was to walk across the stage this weekend and receive his diploma from the University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac.
• Should We Kill Alzheimer's Patients? 5/25/2012 (First Things) - A very disturbing article in New York Magazine by Michael Wolff. It tells the difficult story of his mother's dementia, a course of physical and mental decline about which I am very familiar as my uncle died from the complications of that Alzheimer's disease.
• 'Rhinestone Cowboy' Will Sparkle at The Egg 5/24/2012 (Saratogian) - Thursday night, Glen Campbell will bring his "Goodbye Tour" to The Egg in Albany. So many farewell tours do so well at the box office that the next year they go back on the road as the "I Really Mean It This Time Farewell Tour."
• A Country Music Superstar Speaks Out For Life  5/23/2012 (Celebrate Life Magazine) - Country music superstar Collin Raye did two daring things in the past year: He recorded an album of Christian hymns and became the national spokesman for the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, which works to prevent the disabled and those in life-threatening situations from becoming victims of euthanasia.
• Fr. Pacholczyk: The Hidden Power In Our Suffering  5/22/2012 (Cathollic Herald) - In a 1999 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, patients with serious illness were asked to identify what was most important to them during the dying process. Many indicated they wanted to achieve a "sense of control." This is understandable.
• Songs May Hold Key for Injured Brains  5/21/2012 (theage.com.au) - Music can help patients with severe traumatic brain injury unlock memories from their past, a new study has shown. In a case presented at the World Congress for Neurorehabilitation in Melbourne this week, clinical neuropsychologist Aimee Baird played 50 songs to a patient who suffered a brain injury in a motorbike accident in 2010.
• Obamacare: The States Continue to Revolt 5/19/2012 (First Things) - Never in my life have I seen such widespread formal resistance by the states to a federal law than we have witnessed with Obamacare. Even during the Civil Rights struggles, there were far fewer states in revolt than we see now.
• Physician's Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment: Helpful or a New Threat? 5/18/2012 (National Catholic Registry) - A patient in a nursing home or hospital is increasingly likely to be asked to sign a form with a benign-sounding name: Physician's Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment.
• Immune Cells Revive Woman in Coma 5/17/2012 (MSNBC) - Researchers from the University of Munich recently reported that they were able to awaken an 82-year-old woman who'd been in a persistent vegetative state by using injections of her own immune cells.
• Terri's Life & Hope Network Newsletter! 5/16/2012 May 16, 2012 - As you might have read, last week we issued a press release that the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network has moved its headquarters to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• War, Combat Provide Opportunity to Advance Medicine 5/15/2012 (Deseret News) - It is a lamentable but undeniable fact that wars are a great boon to medical research. Some historians suggest that modern medicine has its roots in the Civil War, with the development of protocols to remove the wounded quickly from the battlefield to special military aid stations, to new surgical methods, to successful treatments for gangrene - and even developments as simple as sterilized instruments and surgeons washing their hands.
• 'Futile Care' Duty To Die May Be Coming To A Hospital Near You  5/14/2012 (Dailey Caller) - When a Canadian man named Hassan Rasouli suffered complications after brain surgery, his doctors wanted to pull the plug. But his Muslim family said no. It was against Hassan's values, and moreover, they believed he showed signs of improvement.
• Even Mild Traumatic Injury May Alter Brain Function 5/12/2012 (psychcentral.com) - Even mild head injuries can cause significant abnormalities in brain function that last for several days, according to new research. Scientists at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine say this may explain the neurological symptoms experienced by those who have experienced a head injury associated with sports, accidents or combat.
• Community Rallies Around Boy Struck by Train 5/11/2012 (clickondetroit.com) - February 28 was the day everything changed for 14-year-old Jacob Marion. The Roosevelt High School freshman was walking along railroad tracks near his home in Wyandotte.
• Minnesota Grand Jury to Review Right-To-Die Case 5/10/2012 (AP) - A grand jury is expected to hear evidence this week about the involvement of a national assisted suicide group in the death of a Minnesota woman in 2007. Apple Valley resident Doreen Dunn, then 57, suffered through a decade of intense, chronic pain before she reached out to the New Jersey-based Final Exit Network.
• Officer Shares Traumatic Accident with Students 5/09/2012 (Trib Local) - Six years later, Timothy Sheehan, 55, doesn't remember much about the car accident that changed his life. The Arlington Heights cop was stopped at a red light on Euclid Avenue and Northwest Highway in February 2006 when an intoxicated driver plowed into his squad car, causing traumatic injuries to Sheehan's brain, heart and body.
• Cuomo Seeking New Agency to Police Care of Disabled 5/08/2012 (NY Times) - Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, seeking to strengthen the state's chronically weak response to abuse of disabled people who live in publicly financed homes, plans this week to propose creating an agency dedicated to investigating problems with the care of nearly one million vulnerable New Yorkers.
• Vatican Newspaper Wrong: Euthanasia & Abortion Proponents Not Sieg Heil 5/07/2012 (First Things) - It is very tempting sometimes to fall back on the Nazi analogy. And occasionally, there is a legitimate equivalence, as in the call for euthanizing disabled infants, which was not specifically a "Nazi" program but promoted enthusiastically by a German medical establishment that had swallowed the eugenics poison in one gulp.
• Traumatic Brain Injuries on Rise, Doctors Say 5/06/2012 (amarillo.com) - The number of traumatic brain injuries related to sports, including baseball and softball, have risen sharply in the past decade, according to emergency room physicians across the country. That's no surprise to Amarillo neurosurgeon Jeff Cone.
• NEJM Pushes Medical Discrimination-Again 5/05/2012 (Secondhand Smoke) - The New England Journal of Medicine is a major player, perhaps the major player, among the Medical Intelligentsia. Its editors really, really want health care rationing.
• Disabled Couple Fights for Right to Care for Newborn 5/04/2012 (CTV News) - A new mom and dad in Mississauga, Ont. who both have cerebral palsy are fighting to keep their newborn son at home, after social workers threatened to take the boy away over concerns about their ability to care for him.
• Georgia Governor Signs Ban on Assisted Suicide 5/03/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has signed a bill banning assisted suicide that will now take effect immediately. The bill, HB 1114 sponsored by Rep. Ed Setzler (District 35), was passed in response to last February's decision by the Georgia Supreme Court that struck down the state's previous law that pro-lifers considered weak and ineffective. 
• Teen Born With No Arms, Legs Addresses UN on Disabilities 5/01/2012 (LifeNews.com) - A teenager from Ireland is one of several people with the rare medical condition known as Total Amelia syndrome, which caused her to be born without arms and legs. That hasn't stopped 16-year-old Joanne O'Riordan from making the most out of life.
• Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network Announces New Headquarters 5/01/2012 PHILADELPHIA, Pa., May 1, 2012 / -- The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network is pleased to announce that it has moved its headquarters to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Terri's Life & Hope Network selected Philadelphia because of its proximity to New York and the Washington DC area.

April

• Critical Organ Donation Warnings in New Pamphlet 4/30/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Dr. Paul Byrne has been on a personal mission for many years to warn the public about the alarming facts and dangers of the $20 billion dollar-a-year organ transplant industry.
• Actor, Martin Sheen Wins 2012 Spirit of Life Award 4/28/2012 (One News Now) - A pro-life organization is honoring veteran actor Martin Sheen for his outspoken opposition to assisted suicide and abortion. Sheen will receive the 2012 Spirit of Life Award at the second annual Life Fest Film Festival in Los Angeles, scheduled for May 5-6.
• Brain Injury Gives Man a Second Chance to Be Kind 4/27/2012 (KQED) - Four years ago, Marco Ferreira was riding his motorcycle down an isolated road in Los Angeles when he hit some grout and had an accident. Though he was wearing a full helmet, leather pants and jacket, Ferreira suffered a traumatic brain injury.
• 'Thumbs-up' From Man Physicians Rather See Dead 4/26/2012 (cbcnews) - The lawyer of a family fighting to keep a man on life-support says a new diagnosis vindicates what they've been saying all along, that Hassan Rasouli is conscious and aware. The Rasouli family believes that a "thumbs-up" gesture Hassan made from his Toronto hospital bed proves he is conscious.
• Teen Declared Brain Dead By Doctors, Makes Miracle Recovery 4/25/2012 (MailOnline) - They were told there was no chance of their son surviving after he suffered devastating injuries in a car crash. But Steven Thorpe's parents refused to give up hope - despite four specialists declaring that the 17-year-old was brain dead.
• Mostert: Apologize to the Severely Disabled, Dr. Phil 4/24/2012 (WND) - Dr. Phil owes more than 50 million people in the U.S. with disabilities an apology. Late last week he ran a segment that was unapologetically pro-death masquerading as an informed serious debate. The topic? Whether people with severe disabilities should be killed because they have no quality of life.
• Kids with Disabilities Can Blossom at Area Camps 4/23/2012 (Lakewood Observer) - Camp Happiness is a seven-week program which provides summer day camp experiences to children and young adults ages 5-21 with cognitive and other developmental disabilities.
• Five Hawaii Doctors Offered Assisted Suicide to Patients 4/22/2012 (NY Daily News) - Five doctors in Hawaii say they're willing to help terminally ill patients end their lives. The only problem - it isn't legal. Dr. Robert "Nate" Nathanson, 78, is willing to risk prison and the loss of his medical license in order to write lethal prescriptions for dying patients, reports American Medical News.
• Students Captivated by Crash Survivor's Story 4/21/2012 (TinelyParkPatch) - Some of the students lingering in the Tinley Park High School Audion would be late for their next class, but Principal Theresa Nolan didn't mind. Several hung back after guest speaker Janet Spencer Barnes concluded her family's story of recovery from daughter Juliana Ramos' October 2009 car accident.
• MA Groups Rally Against Assisted Suicide Proposal 4/20/2012 (CNA) - Efforts are underway to fight a Massachusetts ballot initiative that would allow doctors to assist patients in ending their lives. "There's nothing dignified about suicide," said the Massachusetts Alliance Against Doctor-Prescribed Suicide, "and there's nothing compassionate about encouraging it or presenting it as a rational alternative."
• Wesley J. Smith: That Unrepentant Bigotry 4/19/2012 (First Things) - I have a piece out in the Human Life Review decrying the "unrepentant bigotry" that allows people with profound disabilities to be denegrated as "skin bags" (as one example), or if profoundly cognitively disabled, as mere flora. From "That Unrepentant Bigotry":
• Dr. Phil Show Advocates for "Mercy Killing" of People with Disabilities 4/18/2012 (Live Action News) - This week on the popular Dr. Phil Show, a mother named Annette Corriveau was featured. She's special because she wants the right to be able to kill her children. That's right. She is the mother of two severely disabled adult children, and she feels that the moral thing to do would be to kill them by lethal injection, to end their "suffering."
• Dog to be Euthanized Gets Reprieve 4/18/2012 (comcast.net) - The life of a mutt that's been on doggy death row for more than a year has been spared by a judge following an outcry from animal lovers and the acceptance of a last-ditch proposal to keep the dog alive. 
• Catastrophic Brain Injuries from Football Rising 4/17/2012 (digtriad.com) - As football season nears for high school students, a new study is sure to raise concerns about the safety of the game. Monday, researchers at UNC Chapel Hill said catastrophic brain injuries associated with full-contact football appear to be rising, especially among high school students.
• Double-Standard for the Demented 4/16/2012 (stltoday.com) - The late medical essayist Lewis Thomas once described Alzheimer's as "the worst of all diseases, not just for what it does to the patient, but for its devastating effects on family and friends."
• Vermont Physician Assisted Suicide Bill Dead 4/14/2012 (First Things) - I predicted the outcome in my annual predictions: VT has killed the assisted suicide bill. From the Burlington Free Press story: "For nearly two hours Thursday afternoon, the Vermont Senate focused on legislation that would allow people with fewer than six months to live to opt for a lethal dose of medication.
• Researchers Find TBI Affects Medical Decision Making 4/13/2012 (AL.com) - A blow to the head can cause traumatic brain injury. One of the worries from this type of injury is loss of ability to make decisions - especially decisions about the medical care a patient needs as he or she recovers. In a paper published Wednesday in Neurology, UAB researchers have tested traumatic brain injury patients for their medical decision-making ability. 
• Bioethicist Argues PVS Diagnosed Patients Should NOT Be Kept Alive 4/12/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - If an American bioethicist gets her way, all patients evaluated as being in a "permanent vegetative state" (PVS) would by default have artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) withdrawn unless they have made a prior wish to be kept alive.
• Stow Family Still Hopeful a Year Later 4/11/2012 (Times-Herald) - The idea was such a sweet one. When the Giants play their first home game of 2012 on Friday afternoon at AT&T Park, the perfect person to appear on the mound for the ceremonial first pitch would be Bryan Stow. How awesome would the reaction be to that sight?
• Chemotherapy Drug Being Rationed by Manufacturer 4/10/2012 (First Things) - This has not made nearly enough news. A crucial chemotherapy drug is now in very short supply. Johnson and Johnson, the company that owns the drug, said way back in June, that the shortage was caused by equipment problems at the third party manufacturer. Nearly a year later, the problems remain unremedied, and now a strict rationing program has been implimented.
• Give Vets Resources to Continue Serving 4/09/2012 (Missoulian) - With the Iraq War officially ended and all U.S. troops withdrawn from that country since last December, and with tens of thousands more American soldiers expected to leave Afghanistan by the middle of next year, states like Montana are smart to prepare for a surge of veterans. These veterans have earned a hero's welcome home.
• Study Finds Traumatic Brain Injuries More Common Than Once Thought 4/08/2012 (Exec Digital) - Scientists and medical professionals understand a lot more about the long-term effects of traumatic brain injuries now than they did even just a few years ago. However, until recently, most didn't have a good understanding of how frequently these injuries occur.
• Mass Commemorates Terri Schiavo: Priest Compares Her Killing to 9-11 4/06/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The 7th anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo was commemorated by a Mass at the Ave Maria Oratory at Ave Maria University Friday evening. Terri's remaining family - her mother Mary Schindler, brother Bobby and sister Suzanne - were all in attendance, along with pro-life leaders and activists from across North America.
• German Judge Opens Assisted Suicide Door 4/05/2012 (Secondhand Smoke) - I am not a German lawyer, and so I don't know if this is dispositive or merely the first step in a longer legal process. But a German administrative court has apparently ruled that the ban on physician-assisted suicide is too "general," whatever that means.
• Brooks: Respect the Future 4/04/2012 April 4, 2012 (New York Times) - Last fall I asked readers over 70 to send me "Life Reports" - essays evaluating their own lives. Charles Darwin Snelling responded with a remarkable 5,000-word reflection. Snelling was a successful entrepreneur who spent decades serving his community.
• Pushing the Expensive, Sick, and Elderly to Choose Death 4/03/2012 April 3, 2012 (First Things) - The MSM is deeply invested in cutting medical costs by reducing the levels of expensive medical treatments provided to the elderly and very ill unlikely to improve or be cured. Persuasion is one aspect of this game. (The other is promoting coercion, as in rationing.)
• Bobby Schindler: Drinking the Pro-Death Kool-Aid 4/01/2012 April 1, 2012 (Townhall.com) - Lately, Americans have been quick to disparage other countries for their approach to life and death issues. In particular, many Americans have been outraged at the Netherlands' policies regarding euthanasia, assisted suicide, infanticide and the killing of those with mental illnesses.

March

• Terri's Life & Hope Monthly News Letter! 3/28/2012 (Terri's Life & Hope Network) - Following Terri's death in 2005 we established an International Day of Prayer and Remembrance for my sister, Terri Schindler Schiavo, and All of Our Vulnerable Brothers and Sisters, now known as "Terri's Day!" to be observed each year on March 31st, the anniversary of Terri's death.
• Fr. Frank Pavone Issues Anniversary Statement 3/27/2012 NEW YORK, March 26, 2012 /Standard Newswire/ - Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, who became known as the "Terri Schiavo Priest" because of his involvement in the case back in 2005, issued the following statement in preparation for the seventh anniversary of her death on March 31: "None of us who were in Terri's room during her final weeks and hours will ever forget the intense spiritual and emotional impact of that experience. Terri's death was not a dignified, peaceful, beautiful event, like the proponents of euthanasia want to paint it. Instead, it was violent, ugly, and offensive to the dignity that Terri and every human person, whether disabled or not, possesses."
• Texas Hospital Starving Patient Against Family Wishes 3/21/2012 March 21, 2012 (Spero News) - Texas Right to Life denounced the decision by physicians to allegedly eliminate hydration and feeding of a patient under their care in a Texas hospital. According to the group, the hospital has refused to allow the patient and his family to take him to a nearby hospice for care. A March 20 news release from Texas Right to Life, "Willie breathed on his own through the night, but he is being dehydrated and starved to death.
• The Coming Medical Ethics Crisis 3/17/2012 (Reason) - For the past several years, the medical profession has been undergoing a disturbing transformation. The process was begun by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in an effort to control exploding Medicare costs, and was accelerated by the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.
• Military Leads in Brain Injury Care, Specialists Say 3/16/2012 (American Forces Press Service) - Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps medical specialists are working closely together and with civilian experts to develop the best prevention, diagnosis and treatment practices for traumatic brain injuries, service representatives said yesterday.
• Should Dehydration be Default for PVS? 3/15/2012 (CBC) -Bioethics exploded into the headlines over the last few weeks after the Journal of Medical Ethics published an article promoting "after-birth abortion," that is, the right of parents to have infants killed if the child's presence in life did not serve their (or society's) interests.
• Assisted Suicide Judicial Fiat Sought in New Mexico 3/14/2012 (First Things) - If New Mexico wants to legalize assisted suicide, it is free to so do. But it hasn't, and so a lawsuit will be filed to impose it by judicial fiat, a tactical move that has failed previously in Connecticut, Florida, Alaska, and California, in front of the US Supreme Court, and muddied the waters in Montana. From the Albuquerque Journal story:
• Fort Jackson Clinic Treats Traumatic Brain Injuries 3/13/2012 (WLTX) - Fort Jackson cut the ribbon on a new clinic treating soldiers with a variety of Traumatic Brain Injuries in conjunction with Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness Month.
• What You Lose When You Sign That Donor Card 3/12/2012 (WJS) - The last time I renewed my driver's license, the clerk at the DMV asked if she should check me off as an organ donor. I said no. She looked at me and asked again. I said, "No. Just check the box that says, 'I am a heartless, selfish bastard.'"
• Brain Injury Awareness Month 2012 - Six Important Factors for Brain Health 3/11/2012 (Yahoo.com) - March 2012 is brain injury awareness month in North America. Jason Deierlein, traumatic brain injury and coma survivor, has created a place online for other TBI Survivors called "My Positive Perspective".
• Joke Oregon Assisted Suicide Report Published 3/09/2012 (First Things) - One of the great propaganda coups of the assisted suicide movement was making people believe that the Oregon annual reports about assisted suicide were meaningful or informative. For example:
• Service Dogs Help Disabled 3/08/2012 (News-Sentinel) - Inside a Butler funeral home, a golden retriever/Labrador mix named O'Shea greets mourners with a basket of mints hanging from her mouth. In Mt. Lebanon, a 13-year-old boy with cerebral palsy drops his pencil while doing homework. Napping at his feet, Inga jumps to action.
• 'Second Thoughts' Disability Rights Group Opposes Assisted Suicide in MA 3/07/2012 (First Things) - Disability rights activists are indomitable opponents of legalizing assisted suicide and an essential constituency in the diverse and broad-based coalition that opposes the death agenda. Now, a new DR organization has been founded to fight against the pending Massachusetts initiative that could bring legalized assisted suicide to the Bay State.
• Aggressive Brain Injury Care Improves Outcomes 3/06/2012 (Newswise) - Aggressive treatment for severe traumatic brain injuries costs more than routine care, yet yields significantly better outcomes, improved quality of life, and lower long term care costs, according to a new study by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Euthanasia Squads Offer Death by Delivery 3/05/2012 (Independent) - A highly controversial mobile euthanasia programme launched in the Netherlands last week, sending six specialised roving medical teams door-to-door to help patients end their lives free of charge in their own homes. The project, which has provoked sharp criticism from doctors, is the brainchild of the Dutch largely donor-funded Right to Die NL.
• Ave Maria to Host National Mass for Seventh Anniversary of Terri Schiavo's Death 3/05/2012 ST. PETERSBURG, March 5, 2012 / -- The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network is delighted to announce that Ave Maria University will once again host "The National Mass for Terri's Day" at the Ave Maria Oratory at Ave Maria University, located near Naples, Florida.
• Latest Infanticide Push About More Than Killing Babies 3/02/2012 (Daily Caller) - The ancient Romans used to expose unwanted babies on hillsides. Thankfully, we have come a long way since those bad old days. We would never countenance letting a baby die of exposure or get eaten by animals. No, today's infanticide promoters insist that babies be killed painlessly. After all, we aren't barbarians! Infanticide? Today? Alas, yes. 
• Parkinson's Drug Shows Potential in Brain Injury 3/01/2012 (New York Times) - Daily doses of a drug used to treat Parkinson's disease significantly improved function in severely brain-injured people thought to be beyond the reach of treatment, scientists reported on Wednesday, providing the first rigorous evidence to date that any therapy reliably helps such patients.

February

• Pushing People to Refuse Life-Extending Treatment 2/29/2012 (Secondhand Smoke) - Perhaps it is me, but since the passage of Obamacare and its radical push for cost-containment, I have noticed a big spike in the number of articles trying to convince people to let go when they become seriously ill rather than fight to stay alive. The latest example is in the Wall Street Journal. From "Why Doctors Die Differently":
• Netherlands Hospital Already Began Euthanasia of Newborns 2/28/2012 (Christian Post) - A hospital in Netherlands, the first nation to permit euthanasia, revealed it has already begun killing terminally ill newborns by administering a lethal dose of sedatives after proposing guidelines on the procedure, reported the Associated Press, an announcement that has spurred an ethical outrage.
• Crisis: Traumatic Brain Injuries Last Decades, Congress Considers Bill 2/27/2012 (Desert News) - Patrick Donohue has been doing the math, but he can't get it to add up: Brain injury is the biggest cause of death and disabilities for kids and young adults by a large margin, sending more than 765,000 young Americans to the emergency room every year.
• Bill to Allow Organ Farming from Unconscious Patients! 2/24/2012 (First Things) - Good grief! A Maryland state legislator has filed a bill that would allow surrogate decision makers to "donate" kidneys and liver lobes. From HB 449: THIS SUBSECTION APPLIES ONLY TO A PATIENT WHO HAS BEEN CERTIFIED UNDER § 5-606(B) OF THIS SUBTITLE TO BE IN A PERSISTENT 8 VEGETATIVE STATE.
• Euthanizing the Mentally Ill in the Netherlands 2/23/2012 (Secondhand Smoke) - The latest report from the Netherlands on euthanasia practice includes a case study of a woman killed by her psychiatrist solely due to mental illness, specifically, depression. From the Regional Committees Annual Report 2010:
• Santorum More Right Than Wrong About Dutch Euthanasia 2/22/2012 (The Daily Caller) - The Dutch like their euthanasia - but sure are sensitive when a prominent person describes the horrors that medicalized killing has unleashed. Latest example: Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum criticized Dutch euthanasia in an interview with James Dobson, stating in part:
• Add V-Word to Forbidden Hyphenated Epithets 2/21/2012 (First Things) - Another in an endless series of language kerfuffles has broken out, this time over using the common phrase "chink in the armor" in a sentence involving a Chinese basketball player. As is often the case, I think this is an example of people of a certain political stripe reading racism into a statement when it was not really there, and certainly not intended.
• Promising Treatment for Traumatic Brain Injury 2/20/2012 (Ivanhoe Newswire) - A new study performed on rats shows promise in helping fight against the harmful effects of traumatic brain injury. Traumatic brain injury causes a decrease in blood flow in the cerebrum of the brain.
• Terri's Life & Hope Network Monthly Newsletter! 2/19/2012 (Terri's Newsletter) - As you know, without your ongoing support we wouldn't be in a position to help our brain injured loved ones. A major obstacle we encounter is the influence of our mainstream media and the often bias reporting of this issue.
• Coma to Dreams: Accident Survivor Eyes College 2/17/2012 (clarionledger.com) - Four years ago, physicians were asking Kala Harvey's mother in what nursing home they should place her 18-year-old daughter. A speeding car struck Kala as she was taking a regular fitness walk with her sister in Sledge, knocking her up on the windshield and down on the hard pavement.
• Obama and Santorum Agreed on the Terri Schiavo Law 2/16/2012 (Daily Caller) - Newt Gingrich likes to write "alternate history" novels, such as "Gettysburg," in which the South wins the epochal battle that in the real world saved the Union. Such fantasies are harmless fun because everyone knows they merely are a game of let's play pretend. But some historical revisionism is politically pernicious.
• Girl Wakes From Coma After Hearing Soccer Legend 2/15/2012 (Fox News) - Italian soccer legend Alessandro Del Piero was sporting a new title of miracle worker after being credited with waking a young girl from a two-week coma. The Juventus great was acclaimed by the relatives of 12-year-old Giada Scalise, who said an audio message Del Piero recorded helped to bring her out of her slumber.
• Facility Provides Hope for Brain Injury Survivors 2/14/2012 (Northern Life) - On an average day, 44 Ontarians sustain a traumatic brain injury. Most of them are teenagers and young adults. In fact, it is the leading cause of death and disability for those younger than 45.
• Could Brain Injuries Threaten Football's Future? 2/13/2012 *February 13, 2012 (mysanantonio.com)* - Eight years from now, we should be witnesses to a grand celebration of the NFL's 100th anniversary, even though it was called the American Professional Football Association from 1920-21.
• Wesley J. Smith: The Killing-For-Organs Pushers 2/11/2012 (Daily Caller) - If you want to see where our culture may next go off the rails, read professional journals. There, in often eye-crossing and passive arcane prose of the medical intelligentsia, you will discover an astonishing level of antipathy to the sanctity of human life - to the point now that some advocate killing the profoundly disabled for their organs.
• Investigation into Cardinal Bevilacqua's Death 2/10/2012 (NBC 10 Philadelphia) - The day after Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua died, officials in Montgomery County asked the coroner to investigate the Catholic leader's death.
• Community Celebrates Brain Injured Teen's Homecoming  2/09/2012 (Orange County Register) - There were hugs, screams and tears Wednesday from neighbors and friends as Rob Pequeno lifted his critically injured son from a car into a wheelchair in the driveway.  "You're home, son," said Rob Pequeno, 47, a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff Department. "You're finally home."
• First Private, Door-to-Door Euthanasia Service Opens in Netherlands 2/08/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Netherlands Right-to-Die Association (NVVE) has announced that it will soon fulfill a promise made last year to open a private euthanasia "clinic" that offers door-to-door service, for people who can't convince their regular doctor to kill them.
• Georgia Anti-Assisted Suicide Advertising Law Unconstitutional 2/07/2012 (First Things) - This is the consequence of the ridiculous practice of legislating to headlines too often seen in the states' legislatures and Congress. In this case, Jack Kevorkian was publicly promising to assist suicides. And what did the brainiacs in the Georgia Legislature do in response? Ban assisted suicide?
• Family's Tragedy Results in Goal to Educate About Impact of TBI's 2/06/2012 (The Altoona Mirror) - On the morning of Aug. 17, 2006, 12-year-old Devin Maurer of Patton was a normal kid, a bit big for his age, who liked football and swimming. By that evening, everything had changed. After a day at the Patton Park pool, Devin was riding his bike home for dinner when he clipped an oncoming car.
• Doctor Wakes from Coma Just Hours Before Feeding Tube to be Removed 2/05/2012 (examiner.com) - A 74-year-old Macomb chiropractor suddenly awoke from a 10-day coma on Sunday just hours before doctors were to remove his feeding tube. "He sprung to life and is breathing. It's unbelievable. It's overwhelming," his son, Steven Chism, said Monday.
• Horses Help Brain Injured Veterans Regain Direction 2/04/2012 February 4, 2012 (mercurynews.com) - Paul Gregory was guarding a Baghdad power plant in 2006 when a suicide bomber broke through the gate and detonated a dump truck filled with explosives. The blast killed two men and ended the Army sergeant's military career.
• Fort Belvoir Opens TBI Department 2/03/2012 (Military.com) - The Department of Defense's new $1.03 billion hospital at Fort Belvoir opened the doors to a new, state-of-the-art Traumatic Brain Injury Department Friday.
• USF Receives Grant for Battlefield-Related TBI Research 2/02/2012 (News-Medical) - The University of South Florida (USF) has received a $1.57 million U.S. Department of Defense grant to conduct translational research on traumatic brain injury and other battlefield related injuries and diseases.
• Friends Help Family with Brain Injured Teen 2/01/2012 February 1, 2012 (News 10) - He was once a vibrant, athletic, outgoing teenager, but now, Kenneth Williams is at Modesto Memorial Hospital fighting to regain the life he once had. The 17-year-old, who recently moved to Mariposa, was in a car accident in mid-January.

January

• Long-Term Care Facility for Young Adults Planned 1/31/2012 (Riverhead News Review) - There are few services on Long Island for young people in need of constant medical care. Now, some families that have found this out the hard way are taking matters into their own hands.
• A Day in Sergeant Alexander's Recovery from War 1/30/2012 January 30, 2012 (wbay.com) - Twelve weeks ago a soldier, originally from Potosi in southwestern Wisconsin, now with the Ashwaubenon-based 432nd Civil Affairs Battalion, was shot in the head during a small arms battle while serving in Afghanistan. Sergeant Adam Alexander had two emergency surgeries in Afghanistan to remove parts of his skull -- space was needed to allow for his brain to swell.
• UK Disabled Man Asks Court Permission to be Murdered 1/29/2012 (First Things) - The UK is currently in one of its periodic outbreaks of assisted suicide advocacy. It just turned into euthanasia advocacy as a completely paralyzed man is asking for permission to be murdered without legal consequence to the murderer. From the AP story:
• Major Victory for Life in Europe: 'Euthanasia Must Always Be Prohibited' 1/27/2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Yesterday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a non-binding resolution stating: "Euthanasia, in the sense of the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit, must always be prohibited."
• Neurologists Should Screen Patients for Abuse: Experts 1/25/2012 (HealthDay News) - Neurologists should screen their patients for abuse by family members, caregivers or other people, the American Academy of Neurology says in a new position statement. Problems to look for include elder, sexual, child, financial and emotional abuse; bullying, cyberbullying and violence.
• Wesley J. Smith: Terri Schiavo in Republican Debate 1/24/2012 (First Things) - I am so weary of the media pretending that the federal "Terri's Law," was just a Republican bill. In fact, it was one of the most bipartisan laws passed during the Bush presidency. I bring this up because the issue was raised in tonight's Republican debate in a question to Rick Santorum, who led the effort to save Terri's life.
• Presidential Candidates Respond to Terri Schiavo Case in Florida Debate 1/24/2012 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Jan. 24, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ - It is not insignificant that a question about the state sanctioned, court ordered death of Terri Schiavo by dehydration made it into the top tier questions at the Republican debate last night.
• Giffords to Resign to Focus on Healing 1/23/2012 (USA Today) - One year after a gunman tried to take her life, Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords sat before a camera and announced she would forgo re-election plans in order to focus on her ongoing recovery. Giffords' ability to deliver the message on her own is testament to a remarkable comeback following a year of rigorous treatment after a bullet tore through the left side of her brain, cutting short the political ambitions of one of the Democratic Party's rising stars.
• Would Baby Melinda Have Survived Under Obamacare? 1/21/2012 (First Things) - The media is justly celebrating the release from the hospital of a baby born prematurely at 24 weeks, named Melinda Star Guido.  From the CBS story: "At birth, Melinda Star Guido weighed less than a can of soda - only 9 1/2 ounces. After spending close to the first five months of her life at the hospital, she's headed home.
• Mom Says Disabled Daughter Denied Life-Saving Kidney Transplant 1/20/2012 (USA Today) - When Chrissy and Joe Rivera walked into a conference room at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) a few days ago, they thought they were going to see a slide show to help them start preparing their 3-year-old daughter Amelia for a kidney transplant.
• Terri's Life & Hope Network January Newsletter! 1/19/2012 (Life & Hope Newsletter) - We hope you had a wonderful and happy New Year. We would like to sincerely thank everyone who responded so generously to help support Terri's Life & Hope Network in 2011!
• Pushing Euthanasia as the Rule 1/18/2012 (Secondhand Smoke) - The Belgian medical establishment's enthusiastic embrace of euthanasia has been breathtaking and appalling to behold. Now a study is out stating that a euthanasia counseling service is being underutilized by Belgian doctors. From" Implementation of a service for physicians' consultation and information in euthanasia requests in Belgium," published in Health Policy:
• Donations Enable Mom to Take Brain Injured Son Home 1/17/2012 (Ledger) - Jay Vanbockel (pictured with his mother), the comatose teen injured just before Thanksgiving in a deadly auto accident near Lake Hamilton, will soon board a plane bound for St. Paul, Minn., to begin specialized therapy.
• New Technologies in the Works to Detect Brain Injuries 1/16/2012 (Pro Publica) - Traumatic brain injuries have been called the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, affecting more than 155,000 men and women in uniform. But these traumas don't always have outward signs, making them difficult to diagnose.
• Commission Recommends UK Permit Assisted Suicide 1/15/2012 (The National) - A renewed drive in Britain to legalise assisted suicide has come too late for Simon Bray. The 54-year-old died last June in the arms of his wife and father, 15 months after he first began beseeching to be released from the agony of the cancers that were ravaging his body. 
• Miracle Fan Set to Meet Broncos Quarterback, Tim Tebow 1/13/2012 (BostonHerald.com) - More than three years after a miracle spared his young life when he suffered a traumatic brain injury during a high school football scrimmage, Zack McLeod will be visited by a gridiron god.
• Olympic Favorite Sustains Serious Head Injury in Training 1/12/2012 (NY Times) - The potential danger presented by the high walls and slick sides of supersize halfpipes has come to the fore again, two years after the champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce sustained a traumatic head injury.
• Tell Truth About Assisted Suicide On WA Death Certificates 1/11/2012 (Secondhand Smoke) - Assisted suicide proposals are almost always profoundly disingenuous, as I have been illustrating for years. For example, in Washington, doctors who assist suicides are currently legally required to lie on death certificates. Rather than list the actual cause of death-assisted suicide-they are instead required to list the underlying disease-even though it didn't factually. 
• Brain-Injured Football Player Making Progress 1/10/2012 (RGJ.com) - Zeth Shouse is attacking his rehabilitation from severe brain trauma with the same ferocity he displayed on the football field. There still is a long way to go for the Elko senior, but he made significant strides recently and is ahead of where many doctors thought he would be nearly four months after a blood clot in his brain ruptured, and he fell into a coma.
• Brother to Testify Supporting New Hampshire Bill Recognizing March 31 as Day to Remember Terri Schiavo 1/09/2012 (Christian Newswire) - On Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 10:00 am, Terri Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler is scheduled to testify in Concord, New Hampshire in support of HB 1147, a Bill to proclaim March 31 of each year as a day to remember Terri Schiavo.
• Brain Injury Aftermath: Family Struggles as Loved One is Shuffled From Hospitals 1/08/2012 (Northwest Herald) - On a sunny morning almost one year ago, Kurt Cleveland strapped three Easter baskets to the back of his Harley-Davidson. He left his Marengo home and headed to Crystal Lake for a visit with his daughter and grandchildren on the holiday. He never made it home.
• Left Media Defends Santorum in Dead Baby Grieving Brouhaha 1/07/2012 (Secondhand Smoke) - Disgust was widespread in the attacks against Rick Santorum and his wife for taking their dead baby home to allow the family to grieve his death together. Washington Post liberal columnist Eugene Robinson gratuitously brought the issue up on the Rachel Maddow show:
• Recovering Teen Thanks Midway Fire for Saving Life 1/06/2012 (Gulf Breeze News) - Gulf Breeze teen Whitney Jones and her family just had the best Christmas of her life two months after she survived a near-fatal automobile accident. On Christmas Day, Jones, 17, and her mother, Sherry, paid a visit to the guardian angels at Midway Fire Department who saved her life.
• Assisted Suicide Report Worthless Says SPUC 1/05/2012 (SPUC) - Lord Falconer's report on assisted suicide is worthless, said anti-euthanasia group SPUC Pro-Life. SPUC Pro-Life has played a leading role in resisting the assisted suicide movement in the courts. The report by a self-styled commission funded by pro-death activists amounts to a renewed attack on the legal status of disabled and elderly people.
• Ramesh Ponnuru: Tongue-Depressor Tax Will Harm Jobs, Innovation 1/04/2012 (Bloomberg.com) - A year from now, the federal government will start collecting a new tax on medical devices from tongue depressors to imaging machines, thanks to the sweeping health-care overhaul that Democrats enacted in the spring of 2010. People in the industry say it's already having an effect. In November, citing the new tax, Stryker Corp. (SYK), whose products include artificial hips and knees, announced that it would let go about 1,000 of its workers.
• Family Tribute to Nurse Who Helped Save Their Son 1/02/2012 (DailyEcho) - With their son fighting for his life after a horror car crash which killed his girlfriend, they were told to say their goodbyes. Suffering from serious brain injuries, Ben Wagon was never expected to wake up and if by some miracle he did, his parents were warned he would probably have significant brain damage. 
• Assisted Suicide Still a No-Go in Aloha State 1/01/2012 (OneNewsNow) - In spite of proponents' unique approach to legalize it, Hawaii's ban on doctor-assisted suicide remains in place. Supporters of assisted suicide tried to use a 1909 law that permits the use remedies not typically authorized for terminally ill patients, but Hawaii Attorney General David Louie has responded in a legal opinion that the state law "does not authorize physicians to assist terminally ill patients with dying."