The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network's complete 2011 Network News.

December 

• Should Doctors Tell the Non Terminal Elderly When They Will Die? 12/31/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - I find it odd that learned medical commentators would think that octogenarians and nonagenarians would not be aware that their time is growing short. Of course they do!
• Parents Speak Out on Catastrophic Youth Sports Injuries 12/30/2011 (HealthDay News) - On Aug. 22, 2008, sophomore Matt Gfeller, 15, played in his first varsity high school football game at R.J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, N.C. "We were all there," Lisa Gfeller, his mother, recalled. "There's a sort of privilege in that."
• Collin Raye: This is Who I Am 12/29/2011 (WND) - Country music star Collin Raye doesn't just sing his heart out, he also wears his heart on his sleeve. As spokesman for the Terri Schiavo Hope & Life Network, Raye boldly defends the fundamental human right to life and calls people to political action.
• Mitochondria Key to Treating Brain Injuries 12/28/2011 (KABC) - It's the number-one cause of death and disability in children, killing more kids than cancer or any other disease: Every year, 475,000 children under age 14 suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Now new discoveries are giving kids a better shot at survival. A horrific accident changed Joe Detwiler's life in an instant.
• Life is a Gift: Conference to Discuss Euthanasia 12/27/2011 (Michigan Catholic) - Seven years ago, Bobby Schindler's life changed as he watched his sister fight for hers. Terri Schiavo had suffered severe brain damage several years earlier after entering cardiac arrest in her St. Petersburg, Fla., home, but that wasn't what was threatening to take her life.
• Veterans Bring the War Home 12/26/2011 (Chicago Tribune) - It was just after midnight when former Marine Cpl. James Dahan was awakened by a faint noise in the distance. Except for the glare of his flashlight, there was darkness all around as he crept from room to room, searching for an unknown enemy. Windows sealed: check. Doors locked: check. Building secure: check.
• Merry Christmas from the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network 12/24/2011 Christmas 2011 - On behalf of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network and the Schindler Family, we would like wish all of our friends and benefactors a very Blessed Christmas and a joyous New Year.
• Comatose Man Not Really 'Poised to Be an Organ Donor' 12/23/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - I bring this up because it is getting some mistaken play in the blogosphere. An apparently unconscious man was awake and aware after surgery. Great news, but why is that a national story? Because ABC more than intimated he was about to become an organ donor when he suddenly awoke. From the Good Morning America story:
• Country Star Wanted Newest Album to Sound 'Like You Were in Church' 12/22/2011 (Catholic Review) - Collin Raye, the Catholic country singer who had a string of hits in the 1990s, said he wanted to make his latest album "feel like you were in church for an hour or so."
• US Woman Helped Auckland's Suicide 12/21/2011 (msn.nz) - An American woman travelled to Auckland four years ago to help a woman take her own life, but police cannot bring her here to face assisted suicide charges. Audrey Wallis, 49, was found dead in her Auckland flat in August 2007. She was not terminally ill but believed to be depressed and suffering health problems from an addiction to prescribed medications.
• Traumatic Brain Injury 'A Major Problem for Kids' 12/20/2011 (Brain Injury News) - A US medical expert is hoping to establish a breakthrough so that more children can be better treated for traumatic brain injury (TBI). Dr. Jose Pineda, a paediatrician and the director of neurocritical care at Washington University's St. Louis Children's Hospital, is hoping to find a breakthrough into the condition.
• Wesley J. Smith: Should Doctors be Forced to Kill? 12/19/2011 (Daily Caller) - Fifty years ago, doctors would have been excoriated professionally for assisting a patient's suicide or performing a non-therapeutic abortion. After all, the Hippocratic Oath proscribed both practices, while the laws of most states made them felonies. My, how times have changed.
• Bryan Stow, Beaten Giants Fan, Speaks on Camera for First Time  12/17/2011 (Washington Times) - The San Francisco Giants fan who was nearly beaten to death on opening day has spoken on camera for the first time since the attack. In the video clip aired on San Francisco's NBC affiliate Thursday, Dr. Nancy Snyderman of the news magazine show "Rock Center" introduces herself to Bryan Stow, who is sitting on a bed.
• Bobby Schindler: A Diagnosis That Kills 12/16/2011 (WND) - Having to stand by and witness the intentional death of a loved one is a helpless torture. Having most of the globe tuned in to your unimaginable situation exasperates the feeling even more. I should know, since it was my family and I who tried to save my sister, Terri Schiavo, from being starved and dehydrated to death while the world watched.
• Christmas Cards Help Woman Beat the Odds 12/15/2011 (WKYT) - Imagine being born into a world where no one gave you a chance, you were told you wouldn't amount to anything? In some cases people with disabilities face that challenge daily, but some choose to focus on proving those folks wrong. In the spirit of the season Amber Philpott shares the story of a woman overcoming the odds and inspiring others with handmade Christmas cards. 
• When Care Is Worth It, Even if End Is Death 12/14/2011 (Peter B. Bach, M.D., New York Times) - Twenty years ago, I helped save a man's life. I met him in the emergency room of the hospital, just a year after I finished medical school. His cardiac monitor, the first thing I noticed, showed fast and irregular beats with bursts of a messy, wavy rhythm called ventricular tachycardia. His heart was convulsing.
• Euthanasia: There is Always a "Next Step" 12/13/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - Euthanasia is not just a lethal act, but a deadly ideological appetite-one that is never satiated. Once killing is unleashed as a solution to suffering, activists will always want more. Always. As I have written before, they remind me of the man killing plant in Little Shop of Horrors, growing ever larger and constantly yelling, "Feed me!"
• 'His Love Remains' 12/12/2011 (CHN Online) - When an undiagnosed neurological disorder claimed the life of his 10-year-old granddaughter last year, country singer Collin Raye thought he would be "useless." "Losing that baby, I just was so devastated I thought it would be crippling, but God gave me what I needed to wake back up, so to speak, and said, 'No, no, no - I'm not done with you yet.'..." Raye, 51, told your Catholic Herald in a phone interview Oct. 28. "So, I was to take what I had learned from that loss and try to turn it into a positive."
• Terri's Life & Hope December Newsletter! 12/10/2011 (Terri's Life & Hope Network) - In our last newsletter, we announced that Terri's Life & Hope Network has just reached out to major hospitals across America inviting them to join, "Terri's Life & Hope Safe Haven Network".
• Nearly 2 Years After Devastating Head Injury, Snowboarder is Back 12/09/2011 (Washington Post) - Instead of riding for Kevin, snowboarders can ride with Kevin again. Kevin Pearce's remarkable recovery will reach a major milestone next week when he gets back on snow for the first time in the two years since his life-threatening accident on the halfpipe.
• Democrat Cowardice Scuttled Berwick 12/07/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - Media creates myths that revise history. Example: "Terri's Law," by which Congress sought to save Terri Schiavo's life is now called a "Republican" intrusion into a private situation. But guess how many Democrats in the U.S. Senate opposed the legislation? Zero. That's right, not one. Senators Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid, Barach Obama, and the entire D crowd gave unanimous consent.
• Retired NFL Players and Dementia: Brain Trauma Hits Hard After Football 12/06/2011 (Yahoo Sports) - The statistics are scary. One in three retired football players will suffer some cognitive impairment, and many end up suffering a serious degree of dementia, making life after football especially challenging, and some have faced such extreme difficulties they've decided to end their lives.
• Could Ambien Help 'Awaken' Those with Brain Damage? 12/05/2011 (The Blaze) - For most people, the drug Ambien puts them out like a light. For others, specifically those in a vegetative or minimally conscious state, the drug does the exact opposite: it wakes them up - at least to an extent. Over the years, there have been several accounts of Ambien helping patients with severe brain damage make improvements in focus and cognitive abilities.
• Probiotics Help with Brain Injury Outcome 12/04/2011 (UPI) - Probiotics, added to nutrients supplied through a feeding tube to a patient with a traumatic brain injury, may improve outcomes, Chinese researchers suggest. Professor Jing-Ci Zhu - study leader from the Third Military Medical University School of Nursing and colleagues at the North Sichuan Medical College and Hospital in China - said traumatic brain injury is associated with a profound suppression of a patient's ability to fight infection.
• December 3rd - Terri Schindler Schiavo's Birthday 12/03/2011 (Terri's Life & Hope Network) - Today is Terri Schiavo's Birthday - she would have been 48 years of age. It is because of the heinous act of Terri's intentional, court mandated starvation and dehydration that the Terri's Life & Hope Network was established in an effort to protect the precious other cognitively disabled persons and their families battling similar circumstances. Indeed, Terri's Life & Hope Network remains dedicated to standing up for those that are the target of a very aggressive anti-life movement.
• New Book: Sacrifice for God and Country 12/02/2011 (Amazon) - Sacrifice for God and Country, a new book authored by Terri Schiavo's priest, Monsignor Thaddeus Malinowski who visited and prayed with Terri weekly. This is Monsignor Malinowski's autobiography, a Roman Catholic Priest/Chaplain who rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the U.S. Army, reflecting on his experiences as a priest and soldier.
• This Week on Pro-Life Perspective: The Life & Hope Network 12/01/2011 (NRLC) - All this week, National Right to Life President and Pro-Life Perspective Host Carol Tobias is joined in studio by Suzanne Schindler (pictured), sister of Terri Schindler Schiavo and co-executive director, with her brother, Bobby, of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network. Suzanne is sharing the latest efforts of the Life & Hope Network and the ongoing work to save patients like Terri from death by starvation & dehydration.

November

• Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Improves TBI and PTSD in Veterans  11/30/2011 (Research News) - Treatment with hyperbaric oxygen benefits veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), say researchers. The findings are available online now in the Journal of Neurotrauma.
• Brain Injury Survivors Inspired by Congresswoman Giffords 11/29/2011 (Press Democrat) - When Gabrielle Giffords went on national television this month in a "20/20" interview, she displayed not only the ravages of being shot in the head last January, but the painstaking process of putting the brain and body back together after a traumatic brain injury.
• Liberal Barney Frank Even Hates Death Panels 11/29/2011 November 28, 2011 (St. Petersburg, FL) - As Obamacare continues to unravel, even corrupt politicians are throwing their weight behind repealing extremely harmful parts of the law. The latest is Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the retiring congressman who may be best known for his role behind the financial collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
• Schiavo's Legacy: The Value of Life in a Nation That Cheapens It 11/28/2011 (Alan Sears, Townhall.com) - Terri Schiavo would have been 48 this December 3 ... not a major mile-marker among we, the living, but a cause for reflection for those who loved her, and for all those who fought so valiantly to save her, in those terrible years and months and days before she was starved to death, by court order, in March, 2005.
• Coming Home: Veterans Face Long Waits for Medical Care 11/26/2011 (The Tennessean) - Bradley A. Collier of Nashville came home from Iraq 100 percent disabled. All it took was a shot from a sniper followed by an exploding grenade. He lost half a lung, suffered nerve damage and developed post-traumatic stress disorder. He is not alone. More than 2 million veterans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and thousands of them have been injured and disabled.
• Health Care Would Be Rationer Out at Medicare 11/25/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - Donald Berwick has resigned as the head of Medicare. From the Boston Globe story: "Don Berwick, the Harvard professor who was tapped by the Obama administration to lead the overhaul of the massive Medicare and Medicaid programs, resigned today - just months before he was scheduled to leave his post. Despite his reputation as a health care innovator, Berwick became enmeshed in the divisive politics over revamping the country's health care system.
• Tonight on EWTN County Music Star Collin Raye! 11/24/2011 (Terri's Life & Hope Network) - The death of his 10 year old granddaughter in 2010 literally knocked Collin Raye to his knees, and challenged his faith like never before! Don't miss his story Thursday/ Thanksgiving Night on worldwide Television on EWTN at 8:00pm Est.
• Doctor-Assisted Suicide is Dangerous For Us All 11/23/2011 (Calgary Herald) - It's been a sickly couple of weeks for life. This past Monday, a B.C. Supreme Court case kicked off in which five people are seeking the right to choose to be killed by a physician. The very next day, the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) released a report that urges the federal government to legalize assisted suicide in Canada.
• Why Do They Look the Other Way? 11/22/2011 (TBNweekly) - I am a caregiver of a Traumatic Brain Injury survivor (Diane) and this past Friday we did a wellness check on a member (as she had missed our meeting and dine out), only to find that she had mail in the box for a few days.
• New York's High Rate of Disabled Deaths Prompts Outcry 11/21/2011 (CNA).- Reports that one in six disabled persons in New York over the last decade have died from preventable causes has drawn sharp criticism from local media and disability advocates. "We are devaluing these people," Bobby Schindler of the Life and Hope Network told CNA, and "we are seeing" this kind of treatment "rationalized and justified everyday."
• Guardianship Attorney Indicted for Bilking from Incapacitated Wards 11/20/2011 (AHHerald.com) - A guardianship attorney and her former paralegal were indicted today on charges of theft and failing to make required disposition of more than $800,000, Prosecutor PeterE. Warshaw, Jr. announced. The charges stem from a three-year investigation conducted by the MonmouthCounty Prosecutor's Office into the guardianship practice of attorney Lynn Kenneally, 50,of Wall.
• Gabrielle Giffords Says She is 'Getting Stronger' 11/19/2011 (Washington Post) - Ten months after a gunman shot her at point-blank range at a constituent event in Tucson, Rep. Gabrielle Gifffords (D-Ariz.) appeared on national television Monday night, sang along to the Broadway show tune "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" and said she wanted to get better more than she wanted to return to Congress.
• Ohio Mom Charged in Starvation Death of Her Special Needs Daughter 11/18/2011 (WDTN) - Police arrested a mother and three nurses, all accused of being involved in allowing a special needs child to starve to death. Angela Norman, the child's mother, is charged with involvuntary manslaughter and endangering children.
• Euthanasia is Heroin 11/17/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - I once called euthanasia, "heroin." My point was-and is-that once a culture starts mainlining mercy killing, it will always wants more. And now a Dutch euthanasia advocacy groups wants to create mobile euthanasia clinics.
• Desperate Mom Wins Fight for Son's Care 11/16/2011 (Clarion Ledger) - After lying in a hospital bed for nearly two years with a severe brain injury, Mike Barnes of Mount Olive is finally receiving the rehabilitative care his mother fought for. Barnes, 50, was transferred Tuesday from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson to a brain-injury facility in Arkansas after a long struggle against bureaucracy and lack of in-state services.
• Terri's Life & Hope Monthly Newsletter! 11/15/2011 (Life & Hope Network) - Since Terri's Life & Hope Network made the announcement of Collin Raye joining us our national spokesman, there has been numerous articles and interviews reporting Collin's new role.
• Dr. Mark Mostert: Killing For Organs 11/15/2011 (American Thinker) - There is little doubt that successful organ transplants make miracles out of miserable lives. Quality of life increases and patients are able to return to a fairly normal life. A parent survives to see kids get married. A child is gifted with a bright disease-free future.
• Landmark Case Renews Debate on Assisted Suicide 11/14/2011 November 14, 2011 (Toronto Star) - The legal and moral arguments over Canada's assisted suicide laws will be front and centre in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday as lawyers launch a challenge on behalf of a terminally ill woman.
• After Brain Injury, Oxygen Monitoring Vital, Study Finds 11/12/2011 (HealthDay News) - Low oxygen supply (hypoxia) increases the risk of death and major disability in people who suffer a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), a new study finds. Brain oxygen levels were monitored in about 100 patients with TBI, most of whom had bleeding within the brain after serious blunt head trauma.
• Doctors Back Euthanasia in Severe Dementia Case 11/11/2011 (Dutch News) - A 64-year-old woman suffering from severe senile dementia has become the first person in the Netherlands to be given euthanasia even though she could no longer express her wish to die, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.
• Technique Spots Patients Misdiagnosed as Being in 'Vegetative State' 11/10/2011 (Washington Post) - All the patients had the same terrible diagnosis: brain damage that marooned them in a "vegetative state" - alive but without any sense of awareness of themselves or the world around them.
• Introducing The Human Exceptionalist 11/09/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - My friends at the Discovery Institute are publishing a monthly on-line newsletter, edited by moi, called The Human Exceptionalist. It is the next step up for the Center for Human Exceptionalism, of which I am co-director. As readers of SHS know, I believe that anti humanism is one of the major challenges of our time that cuts across a broad array of issues that otherwise seem unconnected-such as, say assisted suicide and radical environmentalism. 
• Shameful State Care of Developmentally Disabled 11/08/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - The New York Times has a sickening story on how badly helpless and vulnerable people with developmental disabilities are treated in state care. (This is an issue I have seen first hand, once caring for a developmentally disabled man who was terribly abused while in state care.) From, "In State Care, 1,200 Deaths and Few Answers":
• After Daughter's Medical Ordeal, a Call to Fight Health Care Rationing 11/07/2011 (Collin Raye, Fox News) - When a family member is sick, all we want to do is make them feel better. When it's a child especially, nothing else matters in the whole world until they get well. We comfort them and seek medical help as quickly as possible.
• Battling to Understand Brain Injuries in Soldiers 11/05/2011 (thestar) - When the dust settled, two soldiers were strewn along the Kandahar City street, a diplomat was dead and Pte. William Salikin was trapped inside what remained of the crumpled military jeep. It was 1:25 p.m. on Jan. 15, 2006.
• Georgia Should Fix Anti Assisted Suicide Statute 11/04/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - Readers of SHS may recall the indictment of Ted Goodwin and other Final Exit Network activists, accused of assisting the suicide of a man in remission from cancer who was distraught at his disfiguring surgery. The defendants challenged the indictment, denied by the Georgia Court of Appeals. That challenge is now to be decided by the state's supreme court.
• Beaten Giants Fan Bryan Stow Writes His Name 11/03/2011 (LA Times) - Bryan Stow, the San Francisco Giants fan who was brutally beaten at Dodger Stadium on opening day, has written his name, his family said Wednesday in an update on its website. "This picture speaks volumes and we are so proud of him," the family wrote on its blog, alongside a picture showing Stow's handwritten name. Stow continues to show improvement.
• Family in Court Over Future of Man on Feeding Tube 11/02/2011 (Gazette.net) - A life-and-death battle is raging in Frederick County Circuit Court among family members of a man who is being kept alive by a feeding tube after suffering brain damage from a heart attack and seizures in July. Daniel Sanger, 55, is a patient at Frederick Memorial Hospital.
• Statement Regarding the Death of Daniel Sanger 11/02/2011 The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network wishes to express their grief for Daniel Sanger and his family on this sad day. The death of Daniel Sanger is unfortunate and inhumane. Daniel suffered and died needlessly at the hands of his wife who refused to permit physicians to treat his life-threatening conditions and by a court that did not allow his family to provide Mr. Sanger proper medical treatment.
• Hospital Limits Merely the Beginning of Obamacare 11/01/2011 (By Bobby Schindler, CNSNews.com) - As a country whose laws show little respect for life at its most vulnerable stages, from the unborn to the elderly and disabled, it should come as no surprise that the government, in efforts to control costs, will begin to limit hospital stays for those covered by Medicaid.

October

• Canadian Lawsuit Demands Right to Commit Euthanasia by Non Doctors 10/31/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - The euthanasia agenda is not-and never has been-limited to the "terminally ill for whom nothing else can be done to alleviate suffering." Some still pretend that is so as a political expedient, but many are becoming increasingly forthcoming about the radical scope of their actual goals.
• Kathryn Lopez: Someone Must Speak for the Voiceless 10/29/2011 (auburnpub.com) - "For a renewed respect for human life, from conception to natural death ... " Seared in my memory is the sound of Kobi Cudjoe, gasping for air, as he read that prayer. He was one of the petition readers at the special mass held on Oct. 23 at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, D.C., "Honoring the Gifts of Persons with Special Needs."
• Children With Head Injuries Can Face Lifetime of Problems 10/28/2011 (HealthDay News) - Children can face a lifetime of problems after suffering head injuries from falls, car accidents and other mishaps, according to a new study. From communication deficits to trouble with daily self-care, the effects of moderate to severe brain injuries can lead to "substantial long-term reduction" in quality of life for children with traumatic brain injury, the researchers found.
• Applauding Suicide for the Mentally Ill 10/27/2011(Secondhand Smoke) - I have a rather long piece on NRO about the worsening and widening euthanasia license in the Netherlands, Belgium (especially!), and Switzerland-and what accepting euthanasia consciousness does to a nation's moral fiber.
• Raye of Light: A Country Star Gives Voice to the Voiceless 10/26/2011 (By Kathryn Lopez, NRO) - 'It's a barbaric way to die," multi-platinum country-music singer Collin Raye says to me, reflecting on the life of Terri Schiavo, the cognitively disabled woman in Florida who was starved to death in 2005.
• Collin Raye Showcases Sacred Songs on New Album 10/25/2011 (National Catholic Register) - The sacred sneaks up on us everywhere. It happened to me, when a recent, seemingly routine, political stop bowled me over with a reminder of what an undeserved honor it is to be able to live as a Christian in the world today (And what a critical responsibility it is to actually do that: to pray to be who we say we are.)
• Righting a Wrong Turn: Teenager Recovering from Traumatic Brain Injury 10/24/2011 (PennLive.Com) - A simple turn in the road. Every day, a young driver makes this turn. To and from school. On the way to karate class. To a friend's house. One evening, the turn in the road turns a life upside down. It points the way to a long, uncertain detour for 18-year-old Elijah Olson. 
• 'Little Yueyue' Dies Amid Soul-Searching 10/23/2011 (Wall Street Journal) - Doctors say Wang Yue, the toddler who made global headlines after she was hit by two cars and left unassisted as more than a dozen pedestrians passed her by, has died. 
• Emergency Room Visits for Brain Injuries Soar 10/21/2011 (Journal Sentinel) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that emergency room visits for sports and recreation-related brain injuries, including concussions, among young people have jumped 60% during the last decade.
• Man Nearly Starved to Death Like Terri Schiavo Now Responsive 10/21/2011 (LIfeNews.com) - A 55-year-old Maryland man who became temporarily unconscious after suffering a heart attack and a seizure has been saved from being starved to death like Terri Schiavo after an Alliance Defense Fund-allied attorney obtained an order in state court on behalf of the man's mother and brother. The man, Daniel Sanger, is now responding to hospital staff after going six days without food and water.
• End-of-life Surgery May Not Reflect Seniors' Needs, Study Finds 10/20/2011 (Salt Lake Tribune) - The odds of elderly Americans having surgery in their last year of life may have more to do with their age and where they live than whether they want or need the procedures, a study found.
• The "Duty to Die" Advances 10/19/2011 (By Wesley J. Smith) - Is there such a thing as a "duty to die?" Some notable voices in bioethics say, yes. They believe that as a matter of distributive justice, when people reach a certain advanced age, severe disability, or very poor health, they owe it to society, their families-and even themselves-to allow life to (or make it) end.
• Starting Again After a Brain Injury 10/18/2011 (NY Times) - "Want a piece of gum, Jane?" asked my friend Andrée. "What?" I asked her. "Gum!" I didn't know what she was talking about. "It's Trident." It was delicious. That evening, I told my friend David about my day's big discovery. "It's called gum and you chew it and it's fun and there's this one kind that will let me blow bubbles!" "Yes, it's called bubble gum, Jane," he told me, patiently.
• Arrests Made After 4 Disabled Adults Found Locked in Room 10/17/2011 (AP) - Three people have been charged after police found four mentally disabled adults chained in the basement of a northeast Philadelphia apartment building with only a container of orange juice as nourishment.
• Elderly Condemned to Early Death by Secret Use of DNR Orders 10/16/2011 (The Telegraph) - The orders - which record an advance decision that a patient's life should not be saved if their heart stops - are routinely being applied without the knowledge of the patient or their relatives.
• Giants Fan Making Halting Progress, Family Says 10/15/2011 (SFGate.com) - Bryan Stow, the Giants fan who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a beating outside Dodger Stadium, has settled in at a rehabilitation center, where he is making progress but at times shows signs of confusion, according to his family.
• Brain Injury Doesn't Stop Utah Singer from Following Dream 10/14/2011 (Salt Lake Tribune)* *- In 1998, Laurent Neu was riding his motorcycle home from his brother's Fourth of July party. As the University of Utah senior neared the intersection of State Street and 4100 South, he was hit by a driver as she made a lane change.
• Suicide Crisis in Pro Suicide (For Some) Oregon 10/13/2011 (First Things) - Portland is experiencing a suicide crisis. From the Oregonian story: "The number of suicides in Oregon - which has a suicide rate 35 percent higher than the national average - keeps climbing. According to the state's violent death report, there were 566 suicides in 2008, 641 in 2009 and preliminary figures show 670 in 2010.
• Evidence Lacking That Cognitive Rehab Therapy Helps Brain-Injured Vets 10/12/2011 (HealthDay News) - Studies on the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation therapy for traumatic brain injury are plagued by design problems, a new report issued by the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) finds.
• Dr. Death Suicide Machine Up for Auction 10/11/2011 (Reuters) - The "death machine" used by the late Dr. Jack Kevorkian in his controversial campaign to help more than 100 people commit suicide will be among his paintings and other items up for auction this month, the sale's coordinator said.
• Teen Overcomes Brain Injury to Continue 4-H Work 10/10/2011 (Lancaster Gazette) - The fact that high school sophomore Shelby Stalder can perform in her band's color squad, care for her lambs Biggie and Smalls, or even just walk down to the barn on her grandparents' property is something that never fails to amaze her mother, Christy Stalder.
• Assisted Suicide is the Euthanasia of Hope 10/09/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - Legalized assisted suicide costs us the presence of good people, who had they been given emotional support to help them not commit suicide in their time of health extremis, would be so glad to be alive.
• Obamacare: Government Takeover of Healthcare Continues 10/08/2011 (First Things) - This must end. "Experts" are advising bureaucrats to continue seizing control of the entire American health care system. Now, the Feds are preparing to centrally dictate coverage terms for private policies across the nation.
• Traumatic Brain Injuries on the Rise in Youth 10/07/2011 (Examiner.com) - If your child's favorite sport is bowling, you should consider yourself lucky. It is other activities, especially high school football, that the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reports are sending a growing number of children to the emergency room with concussions and other traumatic brain injuries.
• Terri's Life & Hope Network October Newsletter! 10/06/2011 (Terri's Network) - In case you might have missed the exciting news, Country music star, Collin Raye, has joined the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network as national spokesman! Collin is going to join us in our efforts to be a voice for the cognitively impaired and those at risk of euthanasia.

• Baby Joseph's Parents Say 'Shame on Doctors' 10/05/2011 (CBC News) - The parents of Baby Joseph Maraachli, the terminally ill Windsor, Ont., baby who drew international attention during a lengthy right-to-life case before he died last week, say they will not have any more children.
• Baby Joseph's Parents Speaking Out, to Hold Press Conference with Terri's Network 10/04/2011 (London Free Press) - The parents of Baby Joseph will speak out Wednesday for the first time since their son died and will join forces with an American-based right-to-life network, the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, The Free Press has learned.
• Praying for Gary Harvey 10/04/2011 (Renew America) - In an article in the fall 2010 issue of American Life League's Celebrate Life magazine, Bobby Schindler, brother of the late Terri Schiavo and co-executive director of the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network, wrote:
• "Marathon a Day" Runner Raises Awareness for Brain Injuries 10/03/2011 (UPI) - David McGuire, Canada's "marathon a day" runner, entered his eighth of 10 provinces Sunday, having covered 3,500 miles to raise awareness about brain injuries.
• New Voice for Life: Collin Raye 10/03/2011 (National Catholic Register) - Nominated five times as country music's top male vocalist and author of more than a dozen chart-topping songs, Collin Raye has been a popular country performer for 20 years.
• Assisted Suicide Law Around the World 10/02/2011 (The Guardian) - The law governing assisted suicide in England and Wales is more than 50 years old and has been criticised for being unclear. Under the Suicide Act 1961, anyone who assists or encourages suicide in England and Wales could face up to 14 years in prison.
• Brain Injury Study Under Way at Camp Pendleton 10/01/2011 (North County Times) - A half-dozen Marines with brain injuries from combat in Afghanistan or Iraq will crawl inside a hyperbaric chamber at Camp Pendleton next week to begin eight weeks of treatment breathing pure oxygen to see if it speeds their recovery.

September

• Doctors Refuse To Stop Suicide by Starvation 9/30/2011 (First Things) - Doctors in San Francisco are refusing to intervene in a suicide by starvation by an suspected murderer-even though he has been declared mentally incompetent.
• Death Plea Case Rejected by High Court Judge 9/29/2011 (BBC) - A High Court judge has ruled that a brain-damaged woman should not be allowed to die, in what is being seen as a landmark case.
• Press Release: Baby Joseph Dies Peacefully at Home With Family 9/28/2011 Baby's life extended for seven months after hospital refused to perform a tracheotomy
• Terminal Cancer Patients' Lives Not Worth Extending 9/27/2011 (First Things) - "Get out of the lifeboat you expensive terminal cancer patients! Sure, your lives could be extended months, maybe even years, but it isn't worth the money! You're going to die sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner.
• Family Advocates for Those with Traumatic Brain Injuries 9/26/2011 (statesville.com) - When their son William was injured in a car wreck years ago, Denise and Lee Boggs opted to take an alternative treatment path to the one recommended by doctors. This week, the couple and their son met with the staff of U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx to fight for the right of others to do the same thing.
• Kids with Disabilites...Better Off Dead 9/24/2011 (American Thinker) - For those of us committed to the fight of saving Western Civilization from collapse, stories like the one that recently emerged from West Palm Beach, Florida are not reassuring.
• Wife Details Her Celebrity Husband's Recovery 9/23/2011 (Brownsville Herald) - Lee Woodruff, wife of ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff, served as the keynote speaker at the second annual brain injury symposium hosted by the South Texas Rehabilitation Hospital on Wednesday in Brownsville.
• Changes in Controversial Organ Donation Method Stir Fears 9/22/2011 (Washington Post) - Surgeons retrieving organs for transplant just after a donor's heart stops beating would no longer have to wait at least two minutes to be sure the heart doesn't spontaneously start beating again under new rules being considered by the group that coordinates organ allocation in the United States.
• What Robertson Doesn't Know: Unconditional Love Heals 9/21/2011 (First Things) - I am still steamed at Pat Robertson's blessing of abandoning a spouse with Alzheimer's and moving on with life, so long as custodial care is provided, lamely excused by his claiming that Alzheimer's is a "walking death," and that such patients, "are gone, they're gone! They're gone!."
• Country Singer Supports Terri Schiavo Anti-Euthanasia Cause 9/20/2011 (Vatican Insider) - He has sold over eight million records. An impressive 16 songs of his reached number one in the American charts and his records were among the top ten U.S. albums 24 times.
• Helmet-to-Helmet Hit Blamed in Death 9/18/2011 (ESPN.com) - A traumatic brain injury from a helmet-to-helmet hit during practice caused the death of a Frostburg State University football player last month, his father said Tuesday. Kenneth Sheely of Germantown said the family is convinced that Derek Sheely's death was accidental. "Derek would want people to know this was an accident," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
• Country Music Star is New Face of Terri's Network 9/16/2011 (Catholic News Agency) - Country music star and Catholic convert Collin Raye is set to be the new spokesman of the Life and Hope Network founded by Terri Schiavo's family. "I'm really excited to be a part of it," Raye told CNA. "I'm amazed that they chose me." In a Sept. 14 interview, Raye - who has has sold over eight million albums and has been nominated five times as country music's Male Vocalist of the Year - said he was thrilled when the network approached him.
• Mom Defies the Odds After Devastating Accident 9/15/2011 (TODAY Health) - Shelli Eldredge's dream vacation nearly killed her. After a moped accident in Hawaii broke nearly 50 of her bones, fractured her skull, snapped her spine and left her in a coma, doctors didn't have much hope for her recovery. One recommended stopping life support. But her husband, Dr. Stephen Eldredge, couldn't give up.
• A Disabled Man's Fear of Doctor-Prescribed Death 9/14/2011 (First Things) - I met my wonderful friend, Mark Pickup, in Vancouver way back in November 1997 at an anti euthanasia conference where we were both speaking. Ah, we were young! Over the years we have become closer than brothers, to the point that I dedicated my book Consumer's Guide to a Brave New World to Mark.
• Country Music Star to Join Terri's Network as National Spokesperson 9/14/2011 ST. PETERSBURG, FL - Terri Schiavo's Life & Hope Network, a foundation created by her parents and siblings following her death by starvation in 2005, announced today that country music star Collin Raye will serve as their national spokesperson.
• Pressurized Chambers to Treat Traumatic Brain Injury? 9/13/2011 (Serious Injury Law) - Pressurised chambers could be used to treat traumatic brain injury, with the US military testing the technique. Using a pressurised chamber on traumatic brain injury means the body receives more oxygen, assisting the healing of the brain, reports the Associated Press.
• Massachusetts OKs Assisted Suicide Vote for 2012 Ballot 9/12/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A pro-euthanasia group has won approval from the Massachusetts attorney general to allow voters to decide whether to allow individuals to kill themselves with the help of a physician on next year's ballot.
• Back in the Saddle 9/11/2011 (The State) - Victoria Middleton does not remember that July day two years ago in Vermont. Not that she cares to. The USC equestrian rider was bathing a horse in preparation for a competition when the horse became frightened and pulled loose the fencing to which it was tied.
• Traumatic Brain Injuries: Signature Injury of War 9/10/2011 (WBEZ) - In the ongoing national conversation about the legacy and impact of 9/11, there are inevitably conversations about the two wars that have followed the shocking events of that day, and of the impact these wars have had on the lives of the men and women who continue to serve. 
• Terri's Life & Hope Network Monthly Newsletter! 9/09/2011 (Terri's Newsletter) - As you know Terri's Life & Hope Network is here to help families facing life threatening situations due to the threat of not receiving adequate health care and medical treatment. There is no doubt by what we experience in our day to day work Terri's Life & Hope Network that individuals being denied proper medical care is not only prevalent, but we believe it will only get worse.
• Assisted Suicide as Elder Abuse 9/08/2011 (First Things) - Anyone paying close attention to recent events must know that the assisted suicide movement's ultimate destination is suicide as a general right. Now, in another step in the direction of death-on-demand, a notorious UK assisted suicide advocate is escorting an elderly woman to Switzerland to help close her (born-died) parenthesis in time. From the Argus story:
• NHS Makes Patients Wait 'To Lower Expectations' 9/06/2011 (Telegraph) - At least 10 primary care trusts (PCTs) have told hospitals to increase the length of time before they see patients in order to save money, an investigation by The Daily Telegraph has found. In some areas, patients endured delays of 12 or 15 weeks after GPs decided they needed surgery, even though hospitals could have seen them sooner.
• Britain has Legalised Assisted Suicide When No One was Looking 9/05/2011 (Telegraph) - I read the splash in The Times today: prosecutors in this country are turning a blind eye to cases of assisted suicide. The number of incidents where someone helps a friend or relative take their lives is rising; but no one is being prosecuted.
• New Beginnings Community Center - Reaching out to TBI Survivors 9/04/2011 (nbli.org) - New Beginnings Community Center is a Long Island outpatient facility committed to providing treatment to individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other physical and cognitive disabilities.
• Research Article was False When Published in 2007 9/02/2011 (NRLC) - Euthanasia supporter and researcher, Margaret Battin, wrote an article that was published in the Journal of Medical Ethics in 2007 that suggested that there was no evidence that vulnerable groups were negatively affected by the legalization of euthanasia and/or assisted suicide.
• Removal of Life Support May Occur Too Early, Some Researchers Say 9/01/2011 (Health Watch MD) - There are notable differences in mortality rates after traumatic brain injury from hospital to hospital. The results of a new Canadian study have found that those differences may be attributable to individual hospital practices; specifically, how different hospitals handle the removal of life support from such patients.

August

• How I Helped My Mother Starve to Death 8/31/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A recently retired New York Times reporter has penned a book in which she details how she followed through on a shocking pact to help her 88-year-old mother, Estelle, starve to death. In an excerpt from the book, "A Bittersweet Season," published recently in the Daily Mail, Jane Gross describes her mother's increasing dissatisfaction with life as her health deteriorated, and her mounting desire to die, despite the fact that she was not terminally ill.
• Mercy Killing to Prevent Child Abuse 8/30/2011 (Wall Street Journal) - Lawyers for a Manhattan executive charged with murdering her 8-year-old son are attempting an unusual defense: They claim Gigi Jordan had no choice but to kill the boy, and was completely in her right mind when she did it.
• Remembering Terri's Dad on the 2nd Anniversary of His Passing 8/29/2011 From September 1, 2009 (Baptist Press) - Robert S. Schindler Sr., who was at the center of a legal battle to save the life of his brain-injured daughter Terri Schindler Schiavo, died Aug. 29 in St. Petersburg, Fla., from heart failure.
• 10-Yr-Old Dies After Being Being Dehydrated to Death by Parents 8/28/2011 (Fox News) - A father and stepmother of twin boys were arrested Wednesday and charged with injury to a child after police said they denied one of the 10-year-old boys, Jonathan James, water over a period of five days as punishment. He died on July 25, MyFoxDallas-Fort Worth reports.
• Victims Reunite After Harrowing Crash 8/27/2011 (Toronto Sun) - Four years ago, Julie Anderson was told - bluntly - her 20-year-old son would not survive injuries suffered in his car crash. Grant Anderson, who was flown to London's Victoria Hospital after his van slammed into a transport truck, closing down Hwy. 402, was told his best case scenario was that he would be in a vegetative state for the remainder of his numbered days.
• Legalizing Euthanasia by Omission - And Making It a Doctor's Order 8/26/2011 (Culture of Life) - A problematic new end-of-life medical form is rapidly gaining ascendency in U.S. healthcare. It is called the "POLST" document. (In my own state of Colorado, it's called a MOST document.)
• Assisted Living Facilities Should Not be Forced to Allow Self Starvation Suicide 8/25/2011 (First Things) - The assisted suicide movement teaches people how to commit suicide by self starvation. To be clear, I am not talking about when people stop eating as a natural part of the natural dying process. That isn't suicide.
• Former Football Player Tells Story of Brain Injury 8/24/2011 (Leader-Telegram) - Justin Greenwood didn't think much of the blow he took on the football field during a game at UW-River Falls in September 2003. It was, as he calls it, just a "routine hit." But moments after getting up from the tackle, a woozy and disoriented Greenwood collapsed on the sideline.
• Scientists Discover Cause of All Types of ALS 8/23/2011 (Fox News) - Currently, there are no effective therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, which is a paralyzing neurogenerative disorder - but a new discovery by scientists at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine could change all of that. 
• Inducing Hypothermia During Medical Emergencies 8/22/2011 (LA Times) - Avery Reynolds was born with barely a whimper, black and blue from lack of oxygen, on Friday, Aug. 13, 2010. The umbilical cord encircled her legs. Doctors wrapped her in a cold blanket to induce hypothermia.
• Elderly Couple Refuse Food, Water to Die; Get Evicted from Facility 8/21/2011 (ABC News) - At 92 and 90, Armond and Dorothy Rudolph's bodies were failing them. He suffered severe pain from spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal column. She was almost entirely immobile. Both suffered from early dementia, according to their son Neil Rudolph. They wanted to die.
• Massachusetts Voters Facing Assisted Suicide Showdown 8/20/2011 (Patriot Ledger) - It didn't take Roy Almeida more than a minute to shape an opinion about whether people with a terminal illness should have a legal right to kill themselves with lethal medications.
• Bicyclist Drawing Attention to Traumatic Brain Injury 8/19/2011 ‎(Philadelphia Inquirer) - Doug Markgraf was riding into Philadelphia when a hit-and-run driver left him for dead at 55th Street and Lancaster Avenue. After 14 days in a coma, he awoke with a few broken bones, a brain injury, and an incredible, intense, single desire. "If I can ever ride a bike again," he said to himself, "I'm going to ride as far as I can."
• B.C. Supreme Court Tosses Out Challenge to Assisted-Suicide Law 8/18/2011 (Vancouver Sun) - The Farewell Foundation's attempt to challenge the section of the Criminal Code banning assisted suicide has been tossed out by a B.C. Supreme Court judge. Justice Lynn Smith ruled the foundation did not have a strong enough case to challenge the law, saying anonymous members of the group must identify themselves in order to prove the law directly affects them.
• 'Once Proud' System Failing, Fractured, Report Says 8/17/2011 (Vancouver Sun) - Cancelled surgeries. Patients who need hospital care but who can't get it. Families forced to sell their homes to pay for an autistic child's treatment.
• Louisiana Police: Father Confesses to Decapitating Special-Needs Son 8/16/2011 (CNN) - A 7-year-old boy with cerebral palsy and other disabilities including not being able to speak was decapitated, and his biological father has confessed to the killing, police in Thibodaux, Louisiana, said Monday.
• Hospitalists Releasing Patients Sooner, But Also Sicker? 8/15/2011 (First Things) - There may really be no such thing as a magic bullet, but hospitalists were supposed to be the medical equivalent. Unfortunately, a new study casts significant doubts that the system is working as well as hoped. First, a little background: In hospital treatment used to be directed by a patient's primary care physician, who would be responsible for admission, directing sub specialist care, and discharge.
• Summer is Prime Time for Head Injuries 8/14/2011 (hometownlife.com) - Summer brings more children out to the sports fields and arenas. With the new school year on deck we will see many more youngsters getting into sports. The increased number of contact sports and the number of kids playing those increases each year in our Farmington/Farmington Hills areas and, with it, the risk of injury.
• Rep. Giffords' Ordeal Puts Focus on Coverage 8/12/2011 (Stltoday.com) - From the critical moments after she suffered a gunshot wound to the head in January to her triumphant return to Congress last week for a vote on the debt limit deal, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords owes her recovery in no small part to veterans with similar injuries. Doctors and rehabilitation specialists have learned a great deal from the treatment of traumatic brain injuries in veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Saving Ahmed From Starvation 8/11/2011 "There is no way to dignify the description of death by starvation. It is neither quick nor painless." (CNN) - In the middle of a famine, there is a place that houses the sickest survivors of all. Along the border between Somalia and Kenya at the International Rescue Committee hospital it is simply called a stabilization center.
• The Fading "Bright Line" of Consciousness In Life & Death Decisions 8/10/2011 (Culture of Life Foundation) - Most philosophical arguments against the personhood of embryos, fetuses or comatose patients focus on consciousness as the capacity that corresponds to the possession of moral value.
• Brutally Beaten Fan Responsive, Reacts When Sister Offers Kiss 8/09/2011 (CSNBayArea.com) - Giants fan Bryan Stow, hospitalized since being attacked at Dodger Stadium on Opening Day, showed signs of progress over the weekend, moving his arms and legs slightly on command, and puckering his lips when his sister sought to kiss him.
• Kill Yourself if You Must, But Don't Make Me Help 8/08/2011 (Winnipeg Free Press) - Suicide has been legal in Canada since 1972, so it's OK to kill yourself. There is no consequence, except to you. You're not arrested if you succeed or even if you bungle the job -- your life is in your own hands. But while there is no consequence for you, there are considerable consequences for the family and friends you leave behind and those aftershocks can be emotionally and circumstantially devastating.
• After a Ski Crash and Coma, I Come to Understand  8/07/2011 (Oregon Live) - I crashed on Mount Hood while skiing last January and joined a rare group of people. Among the 311 million estimated Americans, about 300,000 of us suffer traumatic brain injuries severe enough to require hospitalization each year. In my case, I was in a coma and hospitalized for a little more than a month.
• Dutch Doctor: "I Wanted To Be A Doctor To Help Patients, Not Kill Them" 8/06/2011 (First Things) - A tragic letter was published in the current British Medical Journal. It is from a Dutch doctor who has twice euthanized patients, but now prefers terminal sedation, in part, because of the stress killing causes her. She ends her letter on a poignant note.
• Brain-Injured Cyclist Rides Cross-Country 8/05/2011 (Connection Newspapers) - When 19-year-old Josh Morros rode his bicycle down Springhill Road to its end on July 29, a crowd of cameras was waiting for him. Surrounded by three riders who met up with Morros in Leesburg, Morros rode through a finish line banner.
• New Jersey's New End of Life Commission: Pardon My Doubts 8/04/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - New Jersey is creating a new end of life commission to recommend public policy around end-of-life care. From the legislation:
• Nationally Known Attorney to Speak at Wheaton Leadership Prayer Breakfast 8/03/2011 (Wheaton Patch) - The Wheaton Leadership Prayer Breakfast Committee will sponsor its 26th annual prayer breakfast, 7-8:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 9, at The Wyndham Hotel, 3000 Warrenville Rd., Lisle. Reservation deadline is Aug. 26. The keynote speaker for the 2011 breakfast is attorney David C. Gibbs III.
• Foundation Fights for Legal Right to Die 8/02/2011 (Toronto Sun) - A New Westminster, B.C., assisted-suicide foundation is headed to the B.C. Supreme Court Tuesday to renew a fight for what it calls "the right to die." The Farewell Foundation For The Right to Die, representing 113 members, hopes to pressure the Canadian government to adopt Switzerland's model for assisted suicides, which does not require a presiding doctor but insists on the patient's full consent and proof of "unbearable pain or unsustainable treatment."
• Traumatic Brain Injury May Boost Stroke Risk 8/01/2011 (USA Today) - In the three months after a traumatic brain injury, the risk of stroke may increase 10-fold, Taiwanese researchers report. "Traumatic brain injury has not been included among the usual stroke risk factors in the past," said Dr. Ralph Sacco, president of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, who is familiar with the study.

July

• Euthanasia Ruling Worrying as Case Continues 7/31/2011 (SPUC) - The latest new ruling by a English high court judge allowing euthanasia by omission is worrying, coming at the same time as another high court judge considers the M case, says a leading anti-euthanasia group.
• No One Has the Right to Switch Off a Human Life: One Woman's Story 7/30/2011 (Daily Mail) - Can you imagine a lonelier or more frightening place to be trapped in, unable to communicate, than your own body? These are terrifying times for anyone who cannot speak up for themselves. Whether they know it or not, they are lying prone in a world increasingly seduced by the idea that death is preferable to the life they are living.
• Terri's Life & Hope Network July Newsletter! 7/29/2011 (Terri's Life & Hope Network) - This past weekend, my sister Suzanne and I were honored to speak at the "Being Faithful, Even Unto Death: Catholic Wisdom of the Treatment of the Disabled and Dying" conference in Kansas City, KS sponsored by the St.Gianna Physician's Guild.
• Terri's Fight Continues 7/28/2011 (stltoday.com) - The death of Terri Schindler Schiavo in 2005 is a distant memory for most Americans. But for the family that spent seven years fighting Terri's estranged husband and the court system to stop the starvation of their daughter and sister, recollections of the 13 days Terri lingered without food or water before finally succumbing to death remain vivid and painful.
• Cardinal Burke: 'Human Life Is a Gift to Be Accorded the Highest Respect and Care' 7/27/2011 (EWTN News/CNA) - At a Kansas City conference on end-of-life care, Cardinal Raymond Burke said that suffering does not cause a person to have less meaning in his life, nor does it give the government the right to decide if that person should live or die.
• 'Allowed to Die' - A Quick Lesson in Media Manipulation 7/26/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Saturday the Daily Mail ran a poll with the question, "Should 'minimally conscious' patients be allowed to die? As of this writing (on Saturday), 29% said No, 71% said yes. I have to wonder though, if the people who clicked Yes had given much thought to the form of the question.
• Mother Fights to Get Treatment for Her Brain Injured Daughter 7/25/2011 (Fox43.com) - A mom is fighting to get treatment for her severely injured daughter. 18-year old Corey Beattie suffered a traumatic brain injury, also known as T.B.I., nine months ago in a devastating car accident. She also sustained a broken neck, and multiple fractures.
• Traumatic Brain Injury Effects 'Long Lasting' 7/24/2011 (Serious Injury Law) - The effects of traumatic brain injury last a long time after the initial incident, research has shown. A study published in journal Annals of Neurology discovered microglial activation in vivo up to 17 years after a traumatic brain injury took place.
• Cardinal Raymond Burke to Headline End-of-Life Conference This Weekend 7/22/2011 (National Catholic Reporter) - The conference is sponsored by the St. Gianna Physician's Guild and is billed as presenting "medical, legal and doctrinal analysis of Catholic care of the disabled and dying." Cardinal Burke is to speak at 9:15 a.m. July 23. The title of his talk is "The Mystery of Human Suffering and Dying."
• German Docs Keep Ban on Assisted Suicide 7/21/2011 (BioEdge) - After a heated debate German doctors have voted to maintain a ban on doctors assisting patients who wish to commit suicide. The vote was convincing: 166 against 56, with 7 abstentions.
• Health Care Savings: Assisted Suicide and Rationing 7/20/2011 (First Things) - I told you so. I have said for almost as many years as I have engaged in anti assisted suicide advocacy that eventually killing (ending life) would come to be seen as a splendid way to save money in health care. I used to have HMOs in mind in making that argument.
• TBI Doubles Risk of Later Dementia 7/19/2011 (USA Today) - A brain injury more than doubles the risk of dementia, according to new research. A large study of older war veterans suggests those who experienced traumatic brain injury (TBI) during their lives had more than two times the risk of developing dementia, according to scientists from the University of California-San Francisco.
• Italy Votes to Ban Euthanasia 7/18/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The lower house of Italy's parliament has voted to prohibit the starvation and dehydration of patients in a move that is seen as a response to the killing of Eluana Englaro in 2009. In a 278-205 vote recorded in secret, the Italian Chamber of Deputies voted to approve the bill, which prohibits "all forms of euthanasia and all forms of assistance or aid for suicide."
• From Tragedy to Triumph 7/17/2011 (Marietta Daily Journal) - The story of Danny and Allison Diaz is one of love. Through love, they turn tragedy into triumph. While riding a motorcycle on Aug. 16, 2005, Danny, a skilled enthusiast, was struck by a van and run over. After three weeks in neuro ICU, Danny slowly started emerging from a life-threatening coma.
• David Brooks's "Bag of Skin" Language Promotes Anti Disability Loathing 7/16/2011 (First Things) - NYT columnist David Brooks often disappoints, but he has an awful column out today that not only exhibits (I hope an unintended) loathing of people who are living with serious disabilities, but which could also be fairly construed as the early spade work for establishing a duty to die among those for whom care is very expensive.
• They Get Around 7/15/2011 (World Magazine) - A lot has changed during the 28 years since James Watt, President Reagan's secretary of the interior, made headlines by forbidding the Beach Boys to perform at the National Mall on the Fourth of July because they attracted an "undesirable element."
• Doctors Keeping Very Sick Babies Off Life Support 7/14/2011 (Fox News) - A study of babies in intensive care suggests that doctors are getting better at recognizing situations where infants are sure to die or have severe brain damage -- and are often holding back on life support when that's the case.
• How Do You Exercise An Injured Brain? 7/13/2011 (CNN) - Soldiers in full combat gear file into a hot, deafeningly loud, and dark room. Fake blood covers the floor and drips off the plastic body parts that are scattered about.
• Cracks Start to Show in 'Vegetative State' Diagnosis 7/12/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After years of opposition from disability advocates, more experts are beginning to question the validity of the "persistent vegetative state" (PVS) diagnostic label that paved the way for Terri Schiavo's starvation death.
• Meet the New 'Doctor Death' 7/11/2011 (Chicago Tribune) - 30 years after Jack Kevorkian went to prison, Dr. Lawrence Egbert says he's helped nearly 300 people take their lives.
• Indian Girl Commits Suicide to Donate Organs to Family Members 7/09/2011 (First Things) - Awful. I have advocated-to some criticism-that the organ transplant community should make it very clear that organs that become available due to suicide will not be procured.* *Now, in India, a 12-year-old girl killed herself for that very purpose. From the Times of India story:
• Rediscovering Consciousness in People Diagnosed as "Vegetative" 7/08/2011 (Discover) - Often people with bad brain injuries seem unresponsive, but many still have thoughts, feelings, and memories flickering in and out of consciousness. Can neuroscience rescue these lost brains?
• House Passes Traumatic Brain Injury Amendment  7/07/2011 (Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation) - U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX-Thirty Two), a Member of Home Republican Headship, this day secured Home agreement of his adjustment to expedite new and inventive treatments, not at present accessible in military and veteran healthcare facilities, to our nations' veterans and active duty troopers having a tough time with Traumatic Brain Traumas (TBI) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
• 'Brain Dead' Quebec Woman Wakes Up After Family Refuses Organ Donation 7/06/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Last week, Madeleine Gauron, a Quebec woman identified as viable for organ donation after doctors diagnosed her as "brain dead," surprised her family and physicians when she recovered from a coma, opened her eyes, and began eating.
• Hugh Grant: Assisted Suicide Campaigner a 'Tremendous Force for Good' 7/05/2011 (The Way) - Hugh Grant has applauded the efforts of well-known British assisted suicide campaigner, Dr. Ann McPherson, who died recently. "She was a tremendous force for good," the British actor told The Independent.
• Celebrate Independence By Helping Our Veterans 7/04/2011 (Weekly Standard) - This week we celebrate the fact that 235 years ago, our Founding Fathers declared our independence. We should never forget though, that the freedom proclaimed in words on July 4, 1776, did not become reality for five more years - only after the Continental Army sacrificed untold amounts of blood, sweat, and tears.
• Duty to Die Gains Traction 7/03/2011 (First Things) - The so-called "duty to die" has been quietly discussed in bioethics for more than a decade. Now, a major British Medical Association leader proposed an implicit duty to die by stating that terminally ill people may have to be denied life-extending treatments due to the costs of their care. From the Scotsman story:
• Judge: Impossible to Understand that a Mother Would Deliberately Starve Her Child to Death 7/01/2011 (Philadelphia Inquirer) - Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner said he found the conclusion unfathomable: that a mother, however destitute, could purposely starve to death her infant over two months.

June

• Personal Faith, Key for TBI Survivors 6/30/2011 (Christian Post) - Mere "positive thinking" is not enough. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) victims who believe they are close to a "higher power" report better emotional and physical rehabilitation success, according to a Wayne State University research. Many TBI victims are known to use religion and spirituality to cope but it remained to be scientifically investigated what elements of religion and spirituality actually affected rehabilitation outcome.
• Former Governor: Emphasis Should be on Quality of Life, Not Quantity 6/29/2011 (First Things) - I am repeatedly amused by those who decry Obamacare critics as alarmists for warning that it will lead to rationing-who then argue we need rationing. I have posted about a few of those examples before. I don't know if Richard Lamm supports Obamacare, but he has wanted rationing for years.
• Brain Injury Survivor Has a New Life Mission 6/28/2011 (Deseret News) - At a young age, Josh Morros became popular in Reno, Nev., for his motorcycle racing skills. At 16 years old he had already won a MRANN championship and was under contract with Kawasaki. In fact, the pros said he was the next big thing in the off-road motocross racing world. Back then for him, it was all about the win. In August 2008, Morros crashed during a high-speed racing competition near Wendover. He said, that's when his journey began. Morros writes this message on his Facebook page.
• Woman 'Comes Back to Life' After Being Clinically Dead for 30 Minutes 6/27/2011 (Fox News) - A British woman who was starved of oxygen for 30 minutes and given up for dead by her family made a miraculous return to life, in a case that left medics baffled. Jean McDonald was expected to die after doctors at Broomfield Hospital in Essex, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of London, removed her breathing tube, the Braintree and Witham Times reported Wednesday.
• At the Bottom of the Slippery Slope: Where Euthanasia Meets Organ Harvesting 6/25/2011 (Weekly Standard) - In 1992, my friend Frances committed suicide on her 76th birthday. Frances was not terminally ill. She had been diagnosed with treatable leukemia and needed a hip replacement.
• Bishops Approve First Major Statement on Physician-Assisted Suicide 6/24/2011 (CNS) - Taking on the issue of physician-assisted suicide in the state where voters most recently approved it, the U.S. bishops declared suicide "a terrible tragedy, one that a compassionate society should work to prevent."
• Terri's Life & Hope Network June Newsletter! 6/23/2011 (Terri's Network) - Along with the upcoming conference in Kansas City, Terri's Life & Hope Network has once again been asked to present the "Terri's Legacy" workshop at NRLC annaul conference. This year's conference will be in Jacksonville, FL. Fox News, Fred Barnes is slated to highlight a list of wonderful speakers that will be in attendance.
• Bishops Betrayed on Assisted Suicide 6/22/2011 (Patrick J. Reilly) - Even as the nation's bishops react with alarm to a recent Montana Supreme Court ruling allowing physician-assisted suicide, their efforts are being undermined by ethics and law professors at several Jesuit universities. Last week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a statement describing assisted suicide as "a terrible tragedy, one that a compassionate society should work to prevent":
• Cardinal Pell Warns Against Acceptance of Euthanasia 6/21/2011 (Catholic Culture) - Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia, argues that the Catholic Church must lead the public fight against acceptance of euthanasia, recognizing that many young people "are moral relativists at least in matters of sexuality and questions of life and death."
• Wounded Warrior Project Helps Injured Soldiers Gain Independence 6/20/2011 (mlive.com) - Mike Elder considers it his good fortune the Wounded Warrior Project began about the same time he returned home from Afghanistan. Elder, a sergeant with the Army National Guard, was happy with the medical care he received at Fort Campbell, Ky., after he was injured in an accident on a mountain road.
• Determined to Recover, Daughter Gets Diploma 6/19/2011 (Seacoastonline.com) - It was an emotional but happy night for Bill Gott as he watched as his daughter, Myla, make her way to the graduation podium Friday night to receive her diploma from Winnacunnet High School.
• Peter Singer Believes His Views Are "Objective Truth" 6/18/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - Peter Singer reviews a new book called On What Matters in his syndicated column. Philosopher Derek Parfit apparently argues that there is such a thing as objective truth, and indeed, that we need to find "what really matters" if life is to have any ultimate meaning.
• Community Medical Center Offers Brain Injury Treatment for Veterans 6/17/2011 (Missoulian) - A reality of modern-day war is that more and more soldiers return home with traumatic brain injuries. In a 2009 report, Pentagon officials estimated that 360,000 service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffered a brain injury during deployment, and 45,000 to 90,000 of those soldiers have lasting symptoms and need specialized rehabilitative care.
• US Rep. Giffords Going Home: Could Help Stimulate Her Progress 6/16/2011 (AP) - Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has returned home to continue her recovery from a devastating head wound, but will make daily trips to the Houston hospital where she began to rebuild her life after a gunman shot her five months ago. Giffords' departure Wednesday from Houston's TIRR Memorial Hermann marks a new phase in her rehabilitation. She struggles to speak and walk, and will need daily, intensive therapy.
• BBC Airs Assisted Suicide 6/15/2011 (NRLC) - By the time you read this post, television will have hit a new low. The BBC will have aired "Choosing to Die," a documentary in which Peter Smedley, a 71-year-old millionaire hotel owner with Lou Gehrig's disease, takes a lethal dose of barbiturates at "Dignitas," an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland. The project is the brainchild of Sir Terry Pratchett, a science fiction writer and vocal proponent of assisted suicide, about whom we've written several times, most recently last month.
• Brain Injuries More Common Than People Think 6/14/2011 (Salisbury Post) - Nestled down a road that seems dedicated to farms - Black Farms Road is lined with farms and trees - is Hinds' Feet Farm, a small therapeutic farm designed to help sufferers of traumatic brain injuries.
• Terri's Life & Hope Concert Huge Success! 6/13/2011 Close to a sellout crowd of 4,200 people attended the 2nd annual Life & Hope concert Sunday evening at the Fraze Pavilion.
• Terri's Life & Hope Concert Tonight! 6/12/2011 Tonight, The Beach Boys with special guest, John Stamos, will headline the 2nd annual Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Concert at the Fraze Pavilion in Kettering, Ohio!
• Benefit Concert will Feature Beach Boys, Lettermen, John Stamos 6/10/2011 (Dayton Daily News) - Terri Schiavo loved music. "She was a huge John Denver and Duran Duran fan," says Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo about a beloved sister who died in early 2005. "We thought a concert was a great way to pay tribute to all persons with disabilities, honor Terri's memory, and raise funds for the network."
• U.S. to Put MRIs in Battlefield 6/09/2011 (NBC) - Troops fighting in Afghanistan, including Camp Pendleton-based Marines, will soon have better access to cutting-edge technology to help diagnose and treat traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI has become the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with approximately 17 to 22 percent of troops returning from Afghanistan believed to have some level of brain injury.
• Time to Take Care of Your Brain 6/08/2011 (Terrace Standard) - Summer has arrived in the north! It's a time of increased outdoor activities and fun, but don't let your fun turn into tragedy. Researchers estimate that 90 per cent of brain injuries are predictable and preventable. Damage to the brain can rarely be repaired and life after a brain injury is never the same.
• Kevorkian: A Dark Mirror on Society 6/07/2011 (by Wesley J. Smith) - The death of Jack Kevorkian by natural causes has a certain irony, but it is not surprising. His driving motive was always obsession with death. Indeed, as he described in his book Prescription Medicide, Kevorkian's overriding purpose in his assisted-suicide campaign was pure quackery, e.g., to obtain a societal license to engage in what he called "obitiatry," that is, the right to experiment on the brains and spinal cords of "living human bodies" being euthanized to "pinpoint the exact onset of extinction of an unknown cognitive mechanism that energizes life."
• Lawmakers Shift Funds to Those with Brain Injuries 6/06/2011 (Palm Beach Post) - Desperate to help her son deal with severe brain damage he suffered when he was attacked by drunken thugs, Vicki Crofutt turned to the state for help. It offered to give Ryan two hours of speech therapy a month. Ryan lost his ability to do many things after the 2004 attack, but speaking wasn't one of them. She declined the offer from the state's Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program.
• Barbara Walters Pitches Jack the Compassionate "Dr. Life" Garbage 6/05/2011 (First Things) - Good grief. Barbara Walters vividly illustrates how incompetently the media usually reported the Kevorkian story. I mean, way back in 1992 she was already worried about K's monicker, "Dr. Death," apparently oblivious that he was called that because during medical school because he would haunt the hospital wards taking photos of patients as they died. And note that she gets the prison story all wrong.
• Head Hits Hurt 6/04/2011 (Calgary Herald) - The U.S. sports world is still reeling from the suicide death of former NFL defensive back Dave Duerson. Researchers have now confirmed that repeated head injuries did serious damage to his brain, and may have contributed to his death. Duerson suffered from memory loss, erratic behaviour, signs of dementia and depression. 
• "Dr. Death" Jack Kevorkian Dead at 83 6/03/2011 (CNN) - Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan pathologist who put assisted suicide on the world's medical ethics stage, died early Friday, according to a spokesman with Beaumont Hospital. He was 83.
• Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network Comments on the Death of Jack Kevorkian 6/03/2011 ST. PETERSBURG, June 3 / -- Today marks the end of Jack Kevorkian's reign of terror over vulnerable and needy patients. For decades Jack Kevorkian spent his life advocating for assisted suicide, helping dozens of mostly non-terminal persons kill themselves. 
• The Power of Physical Therapy: One Student's Story of Brain Injury and Recovery 6/02/2011 (mlive.com) - DJ Little dreams of being a paleontologist or an archaeologist someday. But first, he has set his sights on a goal close at hand: walking across the stage at his eighth-grade graduation ceremony. When he does, each step will be a triumph, brought about by the love and dedication of his parents, therapists, teachers and, most of all, DJ's strong will.
• MEG Brain Scan Tracks Scars of Traumatic Brain Injury 6/01/2011 (KPBS) - Veterans suffering the invisible wounds of war cannot show proof of their injuries like someone with broken bones or missing limbs. New research in San Diego is finding ways to measure the physical evidence of a signature injury of the current wars: traumatic brain injury.

May

• Doctors Forced to Prescribe Drinking Water to Keep the Old Alive 5/30/2011 (MailOnline) - Doctors are prescribing drinking water for neglected elderly patients to stop them dying of thirst in hospital. The measure - to remind nurses of the most basic necessity - is revealed in a damning report on pensioner care in NHS wards.
• A Visit From the Top 5/28/2011 (Salina Journal) - Richard Eubank recalls visiting a young soldier in the traumatic brain injury unit of a veterans hospital. The man was curled in a fetal position and staring into space with uncomprehending eyes. Beside the soldier was a framed photograph of himself in uniform. A 3-year-old girl was clutching his leg, and he was holding his infant son in his arms. "Now he lays in bed and doesn't know anyone in the picture -- including himself," Eubank said.
• Purple Heart Vet in Bike Crash 'Coming Out of Coma'  5/26/2011 (Beacon Journal) - An Iraq War veteran from Hudson who was seriously injured in a bicycle accident this month is beginning to respond to commands from doctors. Christopher Ritchey, 28, a 2001 Hudson High School graduate, is being taken out of a drug-induced coma at Ohio State University Medical Center, his parents said Wednesday.
• Actor John Stamos to Join Beach Boys! 5/26/2011 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., May 26, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network is delighted to announce that John Stamos will be joining The Beach Boys for the second annual Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Concert in Kettering, Ohio (near Dayton), June 12th.
• Modern Suicide Obsession A Troubling Sign of Nihilistic Times 5/25/2011 (First Things) - Suicide has become an obsession in certain quarters, and for a few suicide pushers, the basis for a personal cult. Australia's Phillip Nitschke (pictured) is one such cult leader. Nitschke is a blatant death-on-demander, who has for years pushed suicide machines, the "peaceful pill" suicide concoction that he once opined, in a NRO interview, should be available on supermarket shelves-even to troubled teenagers.
• In Two Years, Trauma Center Has Helped More Than 2,000 Patients 5/24/2011 (TCPalm) - Often the difference between life and death is decided within an hour. Doctors call it the golden hour, a critical window of time in which to treat a trauma patient.
• More Than Raw Information Checklists Needed for Good Palliative Care 5/23/2011 (First Things) - As I watch Compassion and Choices (once the Hemlock Society), it appears to have a couple of long term goals. First and foremost, of course, is the complete legalization of assisted suicide throughout the country, supposedly restricted to the terminally ill under guidelines.
• TBI Under Microscope at Hopkins Conference 5/22/2011 (Baltimore Sun) - The daylong conference Saturday at Johns Hopkins Hospital was held to showcase advances on research into traumatic brain injury.
• Baltimore Doctor Helps the Ill Commit Suicide 5/21/2011 (The Baltimore Sun) - From a cluttered Baltimore apartment office, Dr. Lawrence Egbert says he has helped direct the deaths of nearly 300 people across the country.
• From Coma to Diploma: TBI Victim Beats Odds 5/20/2011 (Denver Channel.com) - Nothing has ever come easily to 24-year-old Jason Dollerschell. His life changed when he was 9 years old. He and other kids were playing around a 4-wheeler when he was nearly killed. "We were just a couple of crazy 9-year-olds messing around on the farm. I wasn't wearing a helmet," Jason said.
• Video: Wesley J. Smith Talks Anti Euthanasia 5/19/2011 (First Things) - Two years ago I was invited by Priests for Life to present to its staff about euthanasia. After my speech, I did an interview with Fr. Pavone that has now been abridged and put on YouTube.
• Neurosurgeon: Study of TBI Years Behind Other Areas in the Medical Field 5/18/2011 (USA Today) - Drawn to Los Angeles for six weeks by a tragedy, the Stow family found a second home. "This truly is the city of angels," Ann Stow said at a news conference Sunday, according to the Los Angeles Times. She was speaking in anticipation of her son Bryan's transfer from Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center to San Francisco General Hospital Monday.
• TBI Rehab Bill Offers Warriors New Hope 5/17/2011 (pr-usa.net) - Wounded Warrior Project applauds Senator John Boozman (R-AR) with lead co-sponsor, Mark Begich (D-AK) and Congressman Tim Walz (D-MN/1) with lead co-sponsor Gus Bilirakis (R-FL/9) for introducing companion legislation in the House and Senate today that would ensure fuller lives for warriors who sustained severe traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in Iraq and Afghanistan, and urges speedy action on this measure.
• Actor/Comedian Jim Labriola Added to Lineup for Terri's Life & Hope Concert 5/17/2011 (Brimstone Services) - Home Improvement actor and comedian Jim Labriola will act as Master of Ceremonies at the 2nd Annual Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Concert on Sunday, June 12th, 2011.
• Zurich Voters HEART Suicide Tourism 5/16/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - I wish I could say I was surprised. Zurich voters rejected a referendum that would have required restricted suicide clinic attendance to the Swiss.
• Terri's Life & Hope Networks May Newsletter! 5/14/2011 May 14, 2011 - On Sunday, April 17th, my family attended the Grand Opening and dedication ceremony to the memory of my sister, Terri Schiavo, at New Beginnings Community Center in Medford, NY. The New Beginnings Center provides therapy and rehabilitation exclusively to persons with cognitive disabilities.
• My Husband is a Medical Hostage for Profit 5/13/2011 (salem-news.com) - Where does one turn when you become disabled, vulnerable or old and become unlawfully a victim of the system? There are no kind words for the injustice that Chemung County New York has visited upon my husband, Gary Harvey and me.
• Husband Celebrates Miracle as 'Brain Dead' Wife Wakes Up in Hospital 5/12/2011 (Fox News) - A woman who was diagnosed as being brain dead has recovered three days after her husband begged doctors to put in a breathing tube before switching off a ventilator at an Australian hospital, the Northern Territory News reported Wednesday.
• UK People with Disabilities Worry About Legalizing Assisted Suicide 5/11/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - People with disabilities are among the most effective and dedicated opponents of legalizing assisted suicide. Now Scope, the disability rights charity from the UK, has conducted a poll showing that the opposition by leadership is reflected among the community as a whole.
• UVA Fights Traumatic Brain Injury at Home 5/10/2011 (c-ville.com) - For the past five years, UVA's neurotrauma laboratory has gathered the school's top doctors to study what has been called a "signature wound" in American military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Traumatic Brain Injuries-known as TBIs-have afflicted 200,000 soldiers since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001.
• Humor Helps Family Heal After Brain Injury 5/09/2011 (Rapid City Journal) - Lee Woodruff shared the compelling story of her husband's recovery from a traumatic brain injury with a conference room full of people on Thursday night, many of whom have also had the "big, bad thing" happen to their family.
• Suicide Drugs Over the Counter if Assisted Dying is Legalized 5/08/2011 (Christian Institute) - Suicide drugs could be available over the counter in chemists if assisted suicide is legalised, two of Britain's top legal and medical experts have warned.
• VA Relief is on the Way for Soldiers' In-Home Caregivers 5/07/2011 (reviewtimes.com) - The U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs will begin accepting applications for the long-awaited Caregiver Support Program on Monday. This development means help may soon be on the way for Cindy Parsons of Fostoria and her son Shane, who was injured by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
• The Brain's Amazing Potential for Recovery 5/06/2011 (CNN) - In January, a bullet fired from point-blank range tore through her brain. Just last week, she was seen walking, albeit with effort, up the stairs of an airplane. Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is making a remarkable recovery after a gunshot wound to the brain, doctors say. Her case shows off the brain's capability to restore some functions after substantial injury, a phenomenon called "plasticity" that is helped by rehabilitation.
• Wife Faces Life-or-Death Decision for Her War-Injured Husband 5/05/2011 (Kansascity.com) - Doctors told Ivonne Thompson to prepare for the worst. Her husband might not survive the night. It was Aug. 9, and Navy Corpsman Anthony Thompson, a Houston native, had just undergone routine surgery to install a catheter. Hours after the operation, he started running a high fever and his blood pressure spiked.
• Creator of Camp for Disabled Honored by Award 5/04/2011 (The Record) - Catherine Carisi couldn't have looked more shocked if some stranger had handed her a check for $50,000. Which, in essence, was just what happened to her Tuesday. The 39-year-old Lodi resident was awarded the top prize in the 15th Annual Russ Berrie Awards for Making a Difference for her work with severely disabled children and young adults.
• Cardinal Burke to Keynote Upcoming Conference on Catholic Care of the Disabled and Dying 5/03/2011 (Christian Newswire) - St. Gianna Physician's Guild announced today, the feast of St. Gianna, that this summer they will be hosting a conference addressing the "Culture of Death" as it relates to end of life.
• Media Pushes Suicide Assistance 5/02/2011 (First Things) - This is disgusting. CBS LA News has glorified an elderly woman selling suicide kits as "death with dignity." From "91-Year-Old Grandma Sells Suicide Kits To Help Terminally Ill Die With Dignity":

April

• "Shouldn't a Husband Lay Down His Life for His Wife?" 4/30/2011 (Washington Post) - Prince William and his fiancée Kate Middleton have dominated news cycles for weeks as their wedding day approaches. The coverage recalled in my mind the events of five years ago, when my own daughter was married. I remember I had just received my royalty payment for some recent work when my good wife snatched it out of my hand, pronouncing "that will go for the wedding."
• Outrage as 'How-to-Die Helpline' is Launched by Euthanasia Charity 4/29/2011 (Daily Mail) - A right-to-die pressure group provoked outrage yesterday over plans to sponsor the UK's first helpline aimed at speeding the terminally ill towards 'a good death'. The free phone line, to be set up by a  charity called Compassion in Dying, will 'promote greater patient choice and control where possible'.
• Brain Injuries Lead Firefighters Union to Create Health Plan 4/28/2011 (news-press.com) - Two serious injuries to off-duty firefighters in recent years prompted the Cape Coral firefighter's union to establish a health care plan of its own, union officials told the city Tuesday in contract negotiations.
• Hired Killer in Assisted Suicide Sentenced to Prison 4/27/2011 (Reuters) - A man convicted of murder in what he called an assisted suicide was sentenced on Monday to 20 years to life in prison in the death of the New York motivational speaker who hired him. Kenneth Minor, 38, was found guilty in March of the murder of Jeffrey Locker, who was stabbed to death in a car in East Harlem in July 2009.
• Nutrition May Help Treat Traumatic Brain Injury 4/26/2011 (WebTV) - For service members wounded on the battlefield, nutrition appears to play a vital role in improving the outcome of traumatic brain injury, especially if it is administered soon after the injury occurs, according to a report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
• Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia "Safeguards" are Baloney 4/25/2011 (First Things) - Oncology has an important article out that every media writer should read. Reporters ubiquitously write or speak of euthanasia as having "tight safeguards" against abuse.
• Pope Admits There Isn't a Full Answer to Suffering 4/23/2011 (The Telegraph) - For the first time in the history of the papacy, Benedict XVI agreed to take part in a programme in which he took questions from ordinary Catholics. More than 3,000 questions were submitted after the initiative was announced a month ago, of which seven were chosen and put to the 84-year-old pontiff.
• Seething Hatred of Sarah Palin 4/22/2011 (First Things) - I have said that the source of some, perhaps much, of the irrational, seething hatred on the Left for Sarah Palin was her decision to give birth to Trig (who has Down syndrome) and openly love him unconditionally. (This isn't the same thing as believing she isn't of presidential material, which one can believe and not descend into venomous loathing).
• Baby Joseph is Coming Home 4/21/2011 (Windsor Star) - The Windsor infant at the centre of an international right-to-life debate is coming home Thursday after spending months in London and U.S. hospitals.
• Final Exit Manslaughter Trial Goes to Jury Without Important Information 4/20/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - One of the things that disheartened me about the law-to the point that I quit a successful trial practice-was that the rules of evidence almost as often kept the truth out as prevented falsehoods from coming in to the court's/jury's consideration.
• Low-Tech Solution Could Lesson Brain Injury Severity 4/19/2011 (KGO-TV) - Bay Area researchers may have found a way to better protect soldiers from what has become the signature injury of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The results of some high-tech testing have revealed a rather low-tech solution for protecting against traumatic brain injury.
• Major Democrat Signs On Plans to Repeal ‘Real Death Panel’ 4/18/2011 (Daily Caller) - Republicans have new a Democratic ally in their attempts to repeal a part of Obamacare as a new, higher-profile member from the other side of the aisle signed onto a bill to eliminate a board that would set Medicare reimbursement rates.
• New Rehab Center Dedicated to Memory of Terri Schiavo 4/17/2011 (First Things) - This is nice. But first, a little background. One of the fights in the Terri Schiavo case involved attempts by the family to obtain rehabilitation for her, which she had not received for years before her death. The family had declarations from very well regarded rehab experts who stated under penalty of perjury that they thought Terri could be improved. From my Weekly Standard piece, "Life, Death, and Silence:"
• Dr. Death Suicide Film Being Shown in Schools 4/16/2011 (Daily Mail) - Pupils are being taught about euthanasia with a video featuring a notorious assisted suicide campaigner nicknamed Dr Death. Dr Philip Nitschke is shown demonstrating his machine that delivers lethal injections in the film, which is already being shown to pupils as young as 14 across the country.
• Switzerland About to Permit Nursing Home Assisted Suicides 4/15/2011 (First Things) - As if the suicide clinics weren't bad enough, now nursing homes in one area of Switzerland will soon be allowed to facilitate suicides by residents.
• Doctors Pushed Paralyzed Irish Man to Refuse Ventilator and Die 4/14/2011 (LifeSiteNews) - In a powerful op-ed in today's Irish Times, an Irish man with degenerative motor neurone disease (MND) has revealed how he was heavily pressured by the medical community to refuse the ventilator that is keeping him alive.
• Family of Terri Schiavo Leads Reflection at Assumption Grotto 4/13/2011 (TeDeumBlog) - This past Sunday, the family of Terri Schiavo - her brother, Bobby Schindler; mother, Mary; and her sister Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo - offered reflections using the Stations of the Cross on "Overcoming Suffering".
• Rehabilitation Center to be Dedicated to the Memory of Terri Schindler Schiavo 4/12/2011 MEDFORD, N.Y., April 12, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ --The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network is honored to announce that New Beginnings Community Center of Medford, NY, will be dedicating their center to the memory of Terri Schindler Schiavo. New Beginnings is a state of the art outpatient rehabilitative facility for Veteran's, Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors and other cognitively and physically disabled persons.
• Hospital Refuses Care for Premature Born Baby 4/12/2011 (Mail Online) - Holding her newborn son Tom for the first time, Tracy Godwin marvelled at his eyelashes, and counted every precious finger and toe. After the drama of his arrival at just 22 weeks, she knew she had a little fighter in her arms. But at a mere one pound, and battling to breathe, he would need all the help he could get. That help never came.
• Brain Injury Survivor Talks of Hope 4/11/2011 (Avalanche-Journal) - "I'm blessed by the accident," Dan Rice said of the 2002 car crash that caused his traumatic brain injury. Rice spoke Sunday at Live Oak Community Church about his struggle with the brain injury and his book that chronicles that struggle, "End of the Trail."
• Obamacare: Burying Us in Regulations 4/10/2011 (First Things) - I warned and I warned, here at SHS, in speeches, on the radio: Obamacare would spawn 100,000 pages of regulations. That's because we no longer pass laws that govern, we pass laws that serve as skeletons for the bureaucrats to create the rules that actually exert the details of control. 
• Idaho House Sends Assisted Suicide Ban to Governor 4/09/2011 (AP) - The House voted overwhelmingly to send a bill banning helping somebody else commit suicide to Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter for signature. Monday's 61-8 vote came after brief debate on the chamber's floor. Republican Rep. Lynn Luker of Boise argued that outlawing assisted suicide was necessary to help prevent abuse of elderly residents by their caregivers who are seeking to profit from their patients' demise.
• Gabrielle Giffords Keeps Defying Odds with Recovery 4/08/2011 (Arizona Republic News) - It has been three months since U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was critically wounded when a gunman opened fire at her constituent event north of Tucson. The attack was so devastating that many news outlets reported Giffords had died.
• NHS Meltdown: Emergency Patients Forced to Wait for Surgery 4/07/2011 (First Things) - I know I sound like a broken record: Single payer. Single payer. Centralized control. Centralized control. Obamacare begins the process of centralizing healthcare in America by giving multiple bureaucracies the power to create standards of care and insurance coverage.
• Woman Heads Home After Remarkable Recovery 4/06/2011 (timesunion.com) - Uranjargal Dovdonpurev is going home to Mongolia, the final leg of a remarkable journey of recovery. It took a village of hospital staff, volunteer therapists, financial donors and well-wishers across the Capital Region to restore mind, body and spirit of the visiting college student who came to Lake George last summer to work.
• Terri's Life & Hope April Newsletter! 4/06/2011 
• Canadian Pediatric Approves the Dehydration of Infants 4/05/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Canadian Paediatric Society - bioethics committee, released a statement on April 1 concerning the withholding and withdrawing of artificial nutrition and hydration. The statement is similar to the statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics
• 'Death Panels Already in Place' 4/04/2011 (WND) - The brother of Terri Schiavo, the 41-year-old brain-injured woman who died six years ago today due to court-ordered dehydration and starvation, finds the recent clamor over imminent Obamacare "death panels" moot because health-care rationing already exists.
• Euthanasia and Organ Harvesting 4/03/2011 (First Things) - I am trying to raise the alarm that current bioethical policies and advocacy promote the objectification of human life and the denigration of human exceptionalism. This episode is in To The Source, where I discuss organ harvesting coupled with euthanasia. From "No Longer Science Fiction:"
• Death in Springtime: Terri Schiavo and Pope John Paul 4/02/2011 As the 2005 deaths of Terri Schiavo and Pope John Paul II captured the world's attention, a mother considered her beloved daughter and the devaluation of people with Down syndrome, and heard a call to pro-life activism. April 2, 2011 (Patheous) - It was the first day of spring in 2005. I was at the florist in the seaside village where I grew up, assembling a basket of flowering spring plants for my sister, who had just given birth.
• ‘There's Not a Day That Goes by We Don't Think of Terri' 4/01/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On March 31, 2005, a Florida woman who was at the center of an intense nationwide controversy took her last breath, after thirteen days without food or water. A bouquet of flowers sat in a vase of water next to the bed where Terri Schiavo lay, forbidden under court order from receiving the water she needed to sustain her life. 
• Killing More Than Just the Patient By Bobby Schindler 4/01/2011 (By Bobby Schindler) - I recently read an article in the London Free Press (March 22nd) about the highly publicized Joseph Maraachli situation titled, Baby Joseph Case Becomes Political Issue in U.S. As the Executive Director the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, I was personally involved in helping Baby Joseph's parents keep control of the medical treatment decisions that were being made for their son.

March

• Proposed Italian Law Bans Starvation and Dehydration of Terminal Patients 3/21/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Italian Chamber of Deputies has begun to debate a new bill that would prohibit the starvation and dehydration of patients, even if they have completed a "living will" authorizing it, according to the French bioethics website Genethique and Italian media sources.
• The Legendary Beach Boys Headline 2nd Annual Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Concert 3/21/2011 (Christian Newswire) - The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network is proud and excited to announce that The Beach Boys will headline the second annual Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Concert near Dayton, Ohio this June. Tickets go on sale Saturday, March 26th at the Fraze Pavilion Box Office and online at www.ticketmaster.com.
• 'Baby Joseph' Undergoes Surgery for Portable Breathing Tube at U.S. Hospital 3/21/2011 (Fox News) - The terminally ill Canadian baby at the center of a right-to-life dispute has received a tracheotomy and is expected to remain in intensive care for seven to 10 days in St. Louis.
• Allyson Scerri: Founder and CEO, New Beginnings Community Center 3/17/2011 (Fortune 52) - After a horrific car accident on Long Island in 1992, Linda Barone, died after sustaining a traumatic brain injury (TBI). In 2007, a motorcycle accident in Florida left Al Barone in a coma for six weeks, also the result of a TBI.
• Proposed Futile Care Hospital Policy Would Allow Committees to Overrule Patient Advance Directives 3/16/2011 (First Things) - For years we have been told bioethics promotes patient autonomy. Want to refuse care even though you die, and the health care team disagrees?
• U.S. Hospital to Give Baby Joseph a Tracheotomy 3/15/2011 (London Free Press) - A U.S. hospital will perform a tracheotomy on Baby Joseph by the end of the week, its chief of pediatrics said in a statement released Monday evening.
• Father Frank Pavone Leads Covert Mission to Rescue Baby Joseph 3/14/2011 (Christian Newswire) - Under cover of darkness, Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, arrived in Ontario, Canada, Sunday night to rescue Baby Joseph Maraachli from the London Health Sciences Centre.
• Baby Joseph Maraachli Safe in US Hospital 3/14/2011 (Christian Newswire) - The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network applauds Priests for Life in the rescue of Baby Joseph Maraachli from the London Health Sciences Centre located in London, Ontario.
• Brain Rewiring 3/13/2011 (thestar.com) - Compared to a sleek new laptop, that 1.3kg mass of fatty tissue called the brain may not look like much. But when it's injured, it adapts and rewires its circuits in new ways.
• Bone Marrow Stem Cells May Provide Treatment for Brain Injuries 3/11/2011 (Sify News) - Scientists have safely used stem cells derived from a patient's own bone marrow in pediatric patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). This was part of a Phase I clinical trial at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
• Feeding Tube Restored to Woman Unable to Pay Catholic Hospital 3/11/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Rwandan immigrant woman and survivor of the horrors of the 1994 genocide who had her feeding tube removed because a U.S. Catholic-affiliated hospital deemed her care too expensive, apparently will not die of starvation and dehydration thanks to a court order and the efforts of her children.
• Family Forced to Watch Mother Dehydrated to Death 3/10/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - Since when is keeping the desire to keep one's mother nourished grounds for removing them from a say in her medical decision making? When an immigrant family wants their mother to receive a feeding tube and the hospital no longer wants to be on the financial hook for providing it.
• Baby Joseph Family Headed Back to Court 3/09/2011 ‎(London Free Press) - The parents of Baby Joseph have hired a Windsor lawyer who says he'll appeal to Ontario's top court to stop a London hospital from removing the infant from life support. Claudio Martini said Tuesday it appears London Health Sciences Centre will keep Joseph alive while the appeal is pending, which could take three months.
• Teen Returns Home 2 Months After Hospital Turns Off Life Support 3/08/2011 (Fox News) - A teenage girl whose life support was switched off by a New Zealand hospital against her family's wishes defied the odds to recover and returned home this week - walking and talking.
• NHS Official Says Let 23-Week Premature Babies Die 3/07/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - Rationing-which is a direct and unavoidable consequence of single payer health care funding-pits patient groups against each other, each seeking to exclude others from part of the pie so they can get more.
• Joseph's Father Prays for a Miracle 3/06/2011 (London Free Press) - Moe Maraachli says he is praying for a miracle, but not only for his dying son. He said, after a small rally in a London hotel with about two dozen people, he wants the stone removed from Baby Joseph's doctor's chest and "put a heart for him." "Maybe he be human like us."
• Fr. Frank Issues Urgent Appeal to U.S. Hospitals on Behalf of Baby Joseph 3/05/2011 (Christian Newswire) - Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, has issued the following urgent appeal on behalf of Baby Joseph Maraachli: "Priests for Life and other pro-life and pro-family organizations have been negotiating with hospitals across the United States for more than a week to have them agree to admit Baby Joseph.
• Terri Schiavo Reps to Rally for Baby Joseph 3/03/2011 (Toronto Sun) - American pro-life advocates will be in London, Ont., this weekend to support the family of Baby Joseph Maraachli in their fight to perform a tracheotomy on their son. Bobby Schindler and Paul O'Donnell, representatives of the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network, will be joined by Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition. 
• Battle for Baby Joseph's Life Continues 3/02/2011 (Catholic Online) - The hospital where Baby Joseph is being kept continues to demonstrate a greater interest in control and carrying out their own will than anything else. Today the update to Baby Joseph's life-and-death battle produced headlines like this: "Hospital Allows Baby Joseph to Die at Home."
• Terri's Network Press Release Regarding Baby Joseph 3/02/2011 The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network Joins Rally to Support the Family's Effort to Bring Baby Joseph Home
• Baby Joseph Can Go Home to Die, But Without Tracheotomy: Family Says Unacceptable 3/01/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Dying one-year-old Joseph Maraachli, whose parents are entangled in a legal battle after doctors refused to perform a simple procedure that would allow him to die at home, should have had that procedure "a long time ago," a pioneer in the field of neonatology has told LifeSiteNews.com.

February

• Many "Locked In" People Happy 2/28/2011 (First Things) - One of the terrible things about euthanasia and food and fluids cases, is the readiness by which many are willing to make despairing totally disabled people dead, that is, people who are fully conscious but completely paralyzed. Indeed, recently Belgian doctors euthanized such a woman, and then a different set of doctors harvested her organs.
• Video - U.S. Supporters Back Maraachli's Family Fight to Bring Baby Joseph Home 2/27/2011 (YouTube) - Press conference with Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Christian Defense Coalition; Alex Schadenberg, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and Bobby Schindler with the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network who were in London, Ontario regarding the "Baby Joseph" case.
• Fr. Pavone, the ‘Terri Schiavo Priest', Will Pay to Bring Baby Joseph to U.S.
• 2/26/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Father Frank Pavone, who became known as the "Terri Schiavo Priest" for his role in trying to save the life of the late Florida woman in 2005, has joined the fight to save a Canadian baby from a cruel early death.
• Terri's Network Joins Fight to Save Baby Joseph 2/25/2011 (Christian Newswire) - An infinitely precious innocent life hangs in the balance, as a family is pitted against the medical establishment in a battle for the life of their little boy. The Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network is entering the battle and stands with the family of Baby Joseph Maraachli. 
• As U.S. Groups Rush to Aid baby Joseph, Lawyers Seek to Broker Deal 2/25/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - At the same time, the case is drawing attention from major pro-life and anti-euthanasia groups in the U.S. who hope to find a hospital willing to take over Joseph's care. Bobby Schindler, executive director of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, traveled to Ontario Thursday by invitation from the family to advocate for Joseph. 
• Father of Baby Joseph Says Hospital Treating Him Like a Criminal 2/24/2011 (Vancouver Sun) - Moe Maraachli says he and his family are treated like criminals at a London hospital, never allowed a moment alone with their dying baby Joseph. Security guards won't even leave him alone to pray with Joseph, who has perhaps just days to live, the father said Tuesday.
• Hospital Still Trying to End Baby Joseph's Life 2/23/2011 (Catholic Online) - Why won't this hospital let these parents provide love and care for their dying child? Baby Joseph is once again being threatened with death by judicial fiat. The hospital is attempting to have Joseph placed under Guardianship so his parents can no longer make medical decisions for him.
• Baby Joseph's Fate in Doubt 2/22/2011 (cnews) - Staff at a London, Ont., hospital may be ordered to remove a breathing tube from Baby Joseph to let him die - even if a Michigan hospital asks he be moved there, a London, Ont., official said Monday.
• Baby Joseph Saved - Transfer to Michigan Hospital Likely 2/21/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - One-year-old Joseph Maraachli of Windsor, Ontario, who was to have his life support removed Monday at 10 am against his parents' wishes, will now not die on the day that Ontario residents celebrate as Family Day. 
• Brain Injury was 'Blessing,' Man Says 2/20/2011 (statesman.com) - Everyone wants a piece of Jake Williams. So, at the Mary Lee Foundation Community Center off South Lamar Boulevard, he must be a rover to acknowledge greetings, help people get situated, make and serve coffee, and fill out paperwork. 
• Vigil Planned in Support of Family of ‘Baby Joseph’ 2/19/2011 (LifeSiteNews) - As thousands rally behind one-year-old Joseph Maraachli after the Ontario Superior Court ruled that his life support will be removed Monday against the wishes of his parents, a group of locals from London have organized a silent prayer vigil for Joseph and his family.
• Parents Lose Battle to Bring Their Baby Home 2/18/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - One-year-old Joseph Maraachli of Windsor, Ontario will have his life support removed Monday at 10 am after the Ontario Superior Court today rejected an appeal by the parents to bring him home where he can die under their care. 
• New Beginnings Community Center 2/17/2011 (nbli.org) - New Beginnings Community Center will be a state-of-the-art outpatient facility designed to provide rehabilitation, management and recovery for community members with traumatic brain injury, physical disabilities, cognitive disabilities or dementia-all in an exceptional, stimulating and safe environment.
• NHS Shamed Over Callous Treatment of Elderly 2/16/2011 (The Telegraph) - The National Health Service is today condemned over its inhumane treatment of elderly patients in an official report that finds hospitals are failing to meet "even the most basic standards of care" for the over-65s.
• Child With Missing Cerebellum Shows Power of Human Spirit 2/15/2011 (First Things) - A child born without a cerebellum is learning to walk. From the story: "A three-year-old boy has baffled doctors after he has started learning to walk, despite missing a key part of his brain.
• Scientists Trying to Learn How Brain Repairs Itself 2/14/2011 (statesman.com) - Compared to a sleek new laptop, that three-pound mass of fatty tissue called the brain may not look like much. But when it's injured, it adapts and rewires its circuits in new ways. That's the kind of flexibility that doctors and rehabilitation specialists hope to encourage in Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman who was shot in the head Jan. 8 in Tucson.
• Brother of Terri Schiavo to Speak at NKU 2/12/2011 (kypost.com) - Bobby Schindler has been speaking as a right to life activist since his sister Terri Schiavo's high-profile and controversial death in 2005.
• Harnessing the Voice to Help Heal the Brain 2/11/2011 (WGNtv.com) - Healing power on the tip of your tongue! When someone goes into a coma -- loved ones hope and pray their voices will penetrate the darkness. But can they really hear? Family members say they believe, but most doctors offer little hope.
• Terri's Network February e-Newsletter! 2/11/2011 (Terri's Network) - We have some exciting news we want to share with you! The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network was presented with the 2009-2010 Gerard Health Life Prize Award on January 22, 2011 in Washington, D.C. 
• No 'Moral Certainty' That Brain Death is Really Death 2/10/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A prominent American professor of Catholic medical ethics has said that in "brain death" criteria there is no "moral certitude" that a patient is really dead, a condition laid out by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI as necessary for removing organs.
• "He May Have Changed, But He's Still The Man I Married" 2/09/2011 (Ultimate Lake Houston) - To Ivonne Thompson, the best part about having a new house is she doesn'thave to get dressed to go see her husband, Naval Petty Officer second class Anthony Thompson. "We're under the same roof all the time now," said Ivonne, 33. "I can go check on him in my pj's. I don't have to wake up A.J. to go to the hospital."
• Hawaii Assisted Suicide Bill Fails 2/09/2011 (Star Advertiser) - After citing numerous examples of loved ones who outlived a doctor's terminal diagnosis or of their own victory over suicidal depression, opponents of a proposal to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Hawaii applauded as a Senate committee defeated the measure last night.
• Giffords Continues to Progress at 'Lightning Speed' 2/08/2011 (MedScape Today) - One month after a close-range gunshot wound to the head, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (pictured), D-AZ, has continued to defy the odds and recover at a much faster and more consistent pace than her physicians expected - to the extent that her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, says that he feels comfortable leaving her bedside in April to command the space shuttle Endeavor on its 2-week final mission to the International Space Station.
• This Staten Islander is a Walking Miracle 2/07/2011 (SILive.com) - Jamie Gonzalez strolls up to the counter of the Subway shop inside Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and Home and orders a sandwich and a bag of chips for his uncle, a patient upstairs.
• Senate Panel to Debate Assisted Suicide 2/06/2011 (Star Advertiser) - Hawaii would become the fourth state to legalize physician-assisted suicide under a proposal being brought back for debate in the Legislature for the first time in four years.
• Lawmakers Demand Treatment for Troops with Brain Injuries 2/05/2011 (NPR) - A bipartisan group of 74 lawmakers issued a letter Friday demanding that the Pentagon's health plan cover a treatment for brain injured soldiers known as cognitive rehabilitation therapy.
• Oregon Sets Record for Assisted Suicides 2/04/2011 (BP) - Oregon established a record in 2010 for the number of physician-assisted suicides in a year with 65.The total, which surpassed the previous high of 60 in 2008, means Oregon has recorded 525 deaths by assisted suicide since its Death With Dignity Act took effect in late 1997.
• Miraculous Recovery from TBI with Neurofeedback Therapy 2/03/2011 (Tucson Citizen) - The revolutionary new non-drug treatment for Traumatic Brain Injury, neurofeedback, has once again proven highly effective. Local Tucson resident, Ken Willingham, is a new testimonial of the benefits of neurofeedback therapy.
• Girl Has Surgery to Remove Half Her Brain 2/02/2011 (Fox News) - A toddler from Vancouver, who suffered up to 50 seizures a day, had surgery to remove half of her brain an effort to fight a rare genetic disorder, The Columbian newspaper reported.
• Med Students Performing Intrusive Exams on Unconscious Patients 2/01/2011 (First Things) - Very serious charges are being made that some Australian and UK medical students conduct intimate body exams on unconscious patients without consent.

January

• Doctor: Brain Can Rewire Itself 1/31/2011 (Suncoastonline) - The director of Crotched Mountain Speciality Hospital in Greenfield said Myla Gott has made great strides, but her journey is far from over and it's uncertain from a medical standpoint what the eventual outcome will be.
• Pittsburgh Hospital Joins Brain Injury Study 1/30/2011 (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) - Allegheny General Hospital plans to enroll up to 15 patients in a study to investigate a promising treatment for traumatic brain injuries like the one Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords suffered.
• Dutch Activists Planning Euthanasia Clinic 1/29/2011 (BioEdge) - The Dutch voluntary euthanasia society (NVVE) is planning to open an eight-person clinic in 2012 where people can go to end their lives.
• American Idol Contestant Fulfilling the "In Sickness and In Health" 1/28/2011 (Chicago Sun-Times) - Which draws more tears: Chris Medina's heartbreaking story or his sweet set of pipes? On Wednesday night, the Oak Forest resident wowed the judges of Fox-TV's "American Idol" first with his smooth voice, then with his heart-rending tale of tragedy and enduring love.
• 700 Anti-Euthanasia Protestors 'Die' in Front of French Senate 1/27/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - While the French Senate was debating the legalization of euthanasia in Paris today, the "Alliance pour les droits de la vie" (ADV, Alliance for the rights of life) organized a theatrical demonstration to attract media attention to the realities of so-called "mercy-killing."
• Belgian Doctors Harvesting Organs From Disabled Euthanasia Donors 1/26/2011 (First Things) - Back when I first got into this line of work, I wrote a piece for Newsweek about the dangers of euthanasia consciousness. I was a naif at the time. I had no idea how insidiously seductive the culture of death could be nor how deeply it had already seeped into the culture of the West.
• Centers in Arizona Will Test Brain Injury Drug 1/25/2011 (Arizona Republic) - Valley doctors participating in a clinical trial are optimistic that a drug may finally allow them to treat traumatic brain injuries while saving lives and reducing long-term disabilities. Four Arizona medical institutions are participating in the study of the hormone progesterone to treat blunt trauma from causes such as car accidents, falls and assaults.
• About Those Death Panels 1/24/2011 (Weekly Standard) - When Sarah Palin warned that Obamacare could lead to medical rationing and "death panels," supporters were outraged. Alarmism! they roared. A lie! Right-wing propaganda!
• NHS Meltdown: Three Stories of the Ongoing Liquifying 1/22/2011 (First Things) - Single payer systems collapse under budget constraints. That is the lesson of the ongoing "NHS Meltdown" chronicled here over the last several years. Things have gotten so bad, I have to double triple up on the reporting from the front lines of the collapse.
• Ruling Delayed on Al Barnes' Medical Decisions 1/21/2011 (Star Tribune) - Wednesday's tense courtroom showdown on the fate of Al Barnes' medical care left the issue unresolved until next month -- assuming that the 85-year-old from Scandia, Minn., lives that long.
• Gabrielle Giffords to Begin Rehab at Houston Hospital 1/20/2011 (Arizona Republic) - U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, still improving after being shot at point-blank range, will begin the next phase of her recovery at a Houston hospital that specializes in traumatic brain injuries. Giffords has been treated at University Medical Center's intensive-care unit in Tucson since she was shot in the head Jan. 8 by a gunman.
• Tennessee Man Faces Rare Assisted Suicide Charge 1/19/2011 (NECN) - A former Tennessee firefighter faces a rare charge of illegal assisted suicide, as well as first-degree murder, in the August 2009 death of his wife. Timothy Michael Hicks was indicted by a Rutherford County grand jury last week in the death of 38-year-old Carla Forbes-Hicks, whose body was found half-clothed and half wrapped in plastic in the woods in Wilson County.
• Former State Wrestling Champ Turns Weaknesses to Strengths 1/18/2011 (Telegraph Herald) - Ryan Heim's opponents wilted on the wrestling mat, and the former Hempstead High School star has a pair of state titles to prove it. The traumatic brain injury he suffered in a 2002 motor vehicle crash won't be pinned so easily, but Heim continues striving toward victory.
• Pacino: Kevorkian Represents a Kind of Hope‎ 1/17/2011 (LA Times) - Looking rumpled and slightly wizened but pleased, Al Pacino fielded questions in the press room after his win for his portrayal of Jack Kevorkian in "You Don't Know Jack." He gingerly sidestepped a question about his thoughts on right-to-die issues by saying, "I am going to stay away from that controversy. It's not my policy to speak about that.
• Brain Injuries are Different for Everyone 1/16/2011 (Palm Beach Post) - In the medical world, brain injuries are a dice roll. "Ten people can suffer the exact same brain injury - and there will be 10 different outcomes," said Dr. Lloyd Zucker, a longtime South Florida neurosurgeon who practices at Boca Raton Regional Hospital and at Delray Medical Center.
• Remains in Austrian Hospital Graveyard May Be Nazi Euthanasia Victims 1/15/2011 (guardian.co.uk) - A hospital graveyard in Austria has been found to contain the remains of what are believed to be Nazi euthanasia victims, authorities said today. 
• Man Charged with Murder in Assisted Suicide of Wife 1/14/2011 (Tennessean.com) - A Murfreesboro man has been charged with murder and illegal assisted suicide in the 2009 death of his wife.
• The Effects of a Brain Injury 1/13/2011 (EmpowerHer) - The Franklin Institute noted that every 15 seconds in the United States, someone sustains a traumatic brain injury (TBI), a type of brain injury. The brain can become damaged due to a lack of oxygen, direct penetration of an object, shaking of the brain or an infection.
• Assisted Suicide Activists Continuing Nonsense That it's 'Only' About the Dying 1/12/2011 (First Things) - Thanks to the spread of suicide tourism, the UK is going through another in a series of pushes to legalize assisted suicide. As with the last time, when a bill was introduced in the House of Lords, a commission is studying the issue. And advocates are pretending that their goal is what it clearly is not.
• Killing the Vulnerable by Dehydration 1/11/2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Recently an Italian newspaper, Avvenire, interviewed bioethicist Wesley Smith about the deaths of Terri Schiavo and Eluana Englaro.
• Recovery From Brain Injury 1/10/2011 (ABC News) - It is hard to remember how I felt at that very moment when my life changed in an instant. Although I had covered wars for years as a journalist I never really thought about death, let alone traumatic brain injuries. I didn't know Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (pictured) but my assumption is she never imagined that a gunshot would put her where she is either.
• Terri's Network Monthly Newsletter! 1/08/2011 (Terri's Newsletter) - We hope everyone had a wonderful and happy New Year! It has already been a busy 2011. The past couple of weeks close to a dozen families have contacted us for help and support. I wish I could say that things are getting better.
• American Legion Pushes For Brain-Injury Treatment 1/07/2011 (NPR) - The American Legion, the nation's largest veterans' organization, is calling for the Pentagon's health plan to cover cognitive rehabilitation therapy for troops with brain injuries, citing an NPR and ProPublica investigation. Cognitive rehabilitation therapy is designed to retrain the brain to do basic tasks such as memorization and word recall.
• End-of-Life Care: On Again, Now Off Again 1/06/2011 (NRO) - I'm getting whiplash. First Obamacare advocates wanted to compensatedoctors for end-of-life counseling as a means of cost cutting. That provision was subjected to a congressional death panel and didn't make it into the final law.
• Navy Psychiatrist to Head War-Trauma Effort 1/05/2011 (SignOnSanDiego) - Capt. Paul S. Hammer, outgoing director of the Naval Center for Combat and Operational Stress Control, left San Diego on Monday to head east, where he will take charge of the Pentagon campaign against post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries and other so-called invisible wounds of war.
• State 'Death Panels' a Consequence of Single Payer Medicaid System 1/04/2011 (Secondhand Smoke) - I read a piece in the Washington Post by Norm Ornstein last week, in which he thinks he cleverly hoisted conservatives on the death panel petard. Arizona-as we have discussed-and now Indiana Medicaid, refused treatments (in the latter's case because, the state claimed, it is experimental).
• Research Offers New Hope to Those with Brain Injuries 1/03/2011 (AJC) - Emory University professor Donald Stein became captivated years with ago with a question: Why would women recover better from brain injuries than men?
• Official Statement: Judge George Greer's Retirement 1/02/2011 (From Terri's Network) - There are many in the legal community that will be honoring Judge Greer for his many years of judicial service.
• Shall We Be Ruled by Principle or Emotional Narratives? 1/01/2011 (First Things) - The West is having an identity crisis. We are supposed to be societies based on principles, particularly, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," an idea that has spread far beyond America's shores. In times of even the worst difficulties, principle serves as our lodestar.