Kan. Woman Resumes Talking After 20 Years

[no_to_war_economy]

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) - A woman unable to talk since she was hit by a drunken driver 20 years ago has begun to regain her memory and form words, sending her father "from despair to joy."

Sarah Scantlin's family and friends plan to celebrate the development on Saturday at the health care center where she lives.

"She's 100 percent Sarah again. The family is back together, and it's just simply a joyous situation," her father, Jim Scantlin, told CNN.

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20050211/D886EIAO0.html

* rumors are the first thing she said was FUCK BUSH

[BiggJawn]

1. LOL!

Cheez and Cracker crumbs EVERYWHERE!

Let's see...1984...It'll be confusing trying to explain why a Bush is still President, won't it?
"I can't handle this! I.....(plops back into coma)"

[Jamastiene]

48. Poor woman missed the Clinton years

I thought my luck was bad. I bet she wonders when America became a monarchy with the Bush dynasty. Or she thinks she woke up in an episode of "Dallas" only no one has shot "JR"..

[Sabriel]

53. After careful consideration, her first words were, " *uck *ush!!!!" n/t

[underpants]

2. Husband is THRILLED!

What a Valentine's Day present.

:bounce:

[Beaverhausen]

3. Her parents were on one of the morning shows today

they were so happy! It is really an amazing story!

[depakid]

4. My BS detector is going off

While stranger things have happened in the annals of neurology, the fact that the wire service (associated press) article is very scant on substantive facts- and the only commentary so far seems to be its proliferation on local "news" and the television fluff shows, makes me suspicious.

Moreover, its already being touted by the evangelicals, who are tying it to the Schiavo case- makes me very suspicious.

The fact that it comes out of Kansas doesn't help, either.

Sorry, but until I hear some more details from credible sources, I'm taking taking this with a HUGE grain of salt....

[jayfish]

6. My Thoughts Exactly. -NT-

Jay

[zann725]

28. Mine too. This reminds me of that FL story about woman on life support

for years, whose husband has been denied repeatedly by the Courts to have her life support removed.

Fact is, most people do NOT pull out of an extended coma. This is SOOO misleading.

[beyurslf]

8. Where in KS? I live here and I haven't heard about it.

Nevermind, I see it is Hutch now. That is not too far from me...

[Dems4HowardDean]

11. Here is a local article

http://www.hutchnews.com/days/thursday/local/local1.html

[depakid]

12. Apparently she lives in a long term care center

in Hutchinson:

http://www.thicare.com/GoldenPlains/default.aspx

[Warpy]

24. I worked in neurology for many years

until my back gave out. Yes, a patient in a prolonged coma will "wake up." No, they are never back to normal.

If this woman's level of consciousness has lightened to the point that she can tell people what she needs, that's great. Just don't expect her to leave a hospital or nursing home without around the clock care and a whole lot of hospital equipment.

Oh, and the "evangelical" and "Kansas" in the article set my BS detector off, too.

[jayfish]

5. Expect The Conservatives To Exploit...

this story in connection to the Schiavo case. I can hear the gears grinding away right-now.

Jay

[LisaL]

7. Well, what are you suggesting? That she always could talk, but

waited 18 years so she could help Terri Schiavo?
:eyes:

[jayfish]

9. No,...

I'm suggesting that conservatives will use this to argue that Terri Schiavo can, someday, recover from her vegetative state.

Jay

[Bridget Burke]

13. They're already doing it.....

"Dobson Asserts Terri Schiavo's Right to Life; Sarah Scantlin's Story is Further Proof that Schiavo Should be Protected"

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=43042

I agree that the case requires serious review. People have recovered from comas. What, exactly, was her clinical condition?

Is Terry Schiavo in a coma--or is her condition worse?

[depakid]

20. Shiavo is in a Persistent Vegetative State

which is different than a coma.

"In persistent vegetative state the individual loses the higher cerebral powers of the brain, but the functions of the brainstem, such as respiration (breathing) and circulation, remain relatively intact. Spontaneous movements may occur and the eyes may open in response to external stimuli, but the patient does not speak or obey commands. Patients in a vegetative state may appear somewhat normal. They may occasionally grimace, cry, or laugh."

Unlike this woman, who it is reported retained environmental awareness, Shiavo will never recover any cognitive functioning.

This can be verified through a number of diagnostic tools- but, of course, fundies don't do science- so you can't explain that to them.

[VegasWolf]

23. Yes EXACTLY, a far cry from simply not talking. n/t

[LisaL]

29. This woman was not in a coma either. From the article, it says

she was aware of what was going on around her. I don't think a person in a coma would be aware of what was going on around her. Some of you seem to be so determined that Terri must die, you get upset when a woman who didn't talk for 20 years started talking-that's pretty sick, IMO.
http://www.hutchnews.com/days/thursday/local/local1.html

[depakid]

46. I have news-

Terry is already dead- cognitively- and the poster below doesn't understand what a persistent vegetative state is (I suspect his brother's condition wasn't explained to him very well).

See: http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.asp?TopicID=606

PVS can, in fact, be diagnosed to a reasonable medical certainty- and the patient's family or guardian choices need to make choices as whether and what form of care it's appropriate to give (absent an advanced directive or living will).

Doesn't matter much to the patient, though- it's not going to change the clinical outcome. No one wants it that way, but that's just the way it is.

From what I can glean from the few additional facts in this case, Sarah was not in a coma, either- she apparently had some level of concious functioning, but again, the facts aren't clear as to what level of functioning she had.

Even if she had been in a coma, however- that doesn't mean she didn't "know" some things that were going on around her. She just wouldn't have been able to initiate voluntary actions. Some patients who have emerged from a coma report remembering the conversations of others. Strange, but true.

Look it up yourself- but distinguish it from PVS.

[tblue37]

37. My 55-yr-old brother went into a vegetative state

1 1/2 years ago after a hip replacement operation caused him to throw several small fat emboli to his thalamus.

After several weeks we were told his condition was deteriorating and at some point we would have to make the hard decision to remove life support. We were told quite bluntly that there was no hope.

A few weeks after that he was in rehab, then a few months later he was back home, living by himself in his own house. He is fine now. He sometimes loses his concentration, but nothing significant, and he does have more trouble reading--he reads a bit more slowly than he used to, and it tires him in a way it never used to.

When he first started to come conscious for a few seconds and the a couple of minutes at a time, the doctors refused to believe us. They said we were imagining it, because we wanted so much for him to recover. Even when the nurses and the physical therapist said they were getting slight but meaningful responses, the doctors said they were random relaxes and not meaningful.

They ran all the test all along, but they saw no evidence that he was ever going to function or even be conscious again.

And yet he is his old self now, with the most minor deficits in concentration and reading. In fact, if you had not known him before, you would not know he wasn't 100%. (More like 98%.)

I laughed when his language tests after rehab showed him to rank in the top 14% for vocabulary. No, not 14% of recovered stroke patients--14% in the entire adult population! <LOL> Of course, he has been damaged. Probably he would have ranked in the top 5% before the stroke taht sent him into the vegetative state.

[LisaL]

44. Nobody really understands how the brain works-we are not even

using our whole brain, just a small part of it anyway. So, obviously, there will be cases when Drs. are completely wrong.

[greeklady]

27. Terri Schavio isn't in a coma and never

has been. She has been labeled as PVS "Persistant Vegetative State".

[LisaL]

32. And neither was this woman. If she could cry and was aware

of her surrounding, then she was not in a coma. News people just call everything coma.

[greeklady]

51. Yes they do.

Just about every newscast I've heard about Terri says "woman in a coma"

[LostinVA]

47. Terri Schiavo is not in a coma

She's in a persistant vegetative state (PVS). A coma is akin to being "asleep," the other is akin to being brain dead. And, this is per my friend's husband, who is a neurologist.

[Kolesar]

10. Kan. Woman Stops Talking After 20 Years

Husband says: "It's a miracle".

[DBoon]

18. Is that loud noise

your wife throwing a heavy object at you ;)

[AZCat]

14. Holy sh*t, this is my hometown!

I guess I'll be calling home tonight to get the real story...

[zann725]

30. Please follow-up, and let us know the Truth. Thanks.

n/t

[AZCat]

34. I keep trying but their phone is busy.

I am pretty sure that my dad would have seen her as a patient at some point. Regardless, he should have an opinion about it and I am interested in what it is.

[AZCat]

36. Okay so here's what my parents had to say:

Sarah Scantlin has been a patient of my dad's for about ten years. She has been awake the whole time and has been able to follow things with her eyes, but hasn't had any movement outside of that. Apparently her muscles are in pretty bad shape.

She isn't all the way back to normal but it is a pretty dramatic turn-around. My dad doesn't know how much of her muscle control she will regain but her memory is coming back and she is able to talk fairly clearly.

He doesn't know why it happened but it isn't bogus.

[Horse with no Name]

40. Thanks for the info but

I'd be careful before posting any more on her condition.
HIPPA laws are pretty stringent about patient confidentiality and I wouldn't wanna see your dad get into trouble or fined by some freeper that is trying to cause trouble. Just a little friendly advice.:)

[AZCat]

42. Thanks - I appreciate it.

He really didn't have much to say other than to clarify what was in the article in the paper. I didn't ask about her treatment or anything like that, but there was some question here if this was authentic or if it was something exaggerated to push a particular agenda and I wanted to check if it was legit.

[Horse with no Name]

43. You didn't cross the line

Just was making sure you didn't.:)
Lots of people would like to make trouble for us over here--I hope you weren't offended that I said something.

[AZCat]

45. Not offended at all.

Quite the contrary - thanks for mentioning it.

If we don't look out for each other, who will? :)

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

15. BS Detector reveals: not brain damaged but hysterical reaction

Her 'coma' was most certainly the result of a 20 year hysteria not actual brain damage.

[depakid]

17. How do you know she was in a coma?

The wire service article doesn't say that- was that reported on the today show?

All I'm saying is that she'd have had periodic neourological exams detailing her mental status- and those would be in the chart- and the case would be of considerable interest to physicians who work with these sorts of patients.

Until one hears some detailed facts as opposed to media "fluff," it pays to be skeptical.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

19. I agree. They said 'coma' on CNN or MSNBC...it is a BS story

She probably had a hysterical reaction with catatonic features simulating a 'coma' to lay people. No way she was brain damaged then recovered...that's just nonsense.

[LisaL]

31. And you would know that how?

[mike_c]

16. the article gives the impression...

...that she was responsive, able to eat and drink, and so on after her initial recovery from the injury.

[Horse with no Name]

21. I would think the media would really try to get this story

right. It has far reaching implications.
It would be prudent for them to report why she was in this state?
It would be prudent for them to report what type of life she lived before this happened?
It would be prudent for them to report what the cause was--whether it was psychologically induced or traumatically induced?

This needs to be clarified immediately. I don't think this case in any way mirrors Schiavo's case--yet we will be told over and over that it does.

The other thing will be how many people will start suing hospitals and doctors because they were convinced to withdraw life support on their loved ones and will use this case as their basis in support of this argument?

I am very happy for the family that their loved one recovered from this lengthy illness..but my guess is that this was psychologically induced as opposed to traumatic, therefore, of course the results can be different. One is able to turn on the switch but doesn't and the other is simply unable.

[LisaL]

33. She was hit by a drunk driver.

How was it psychologically induced as opposed to traumatic, when she actually had been physically injured?

[Horse with no Name]

39. I read the article

and did not see when it was posted earlier that it was from an accident. I see that that information is available now.
I was in agreement with another poster that said that we needed to find out what exactly happened before jumping to conclusions.
And as I stated, I am happy for the family.

[greeklady]

52. She is brain damaged from being hit by a drunk driver,

not psychological.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050213/D887B94G0.html

This article has two good pics of her too. She still has serious physical problems.

[MikeG]

22. Bet she has a lot to talk about.

[Quakerfriend]

25. Saw the interview on CNN this am with her parents

Her father says she is "100% back to her old self". Talking about the family. Saying hello to people she has not seen in 20 yrs...ie, high school friends.

And, her MD (I believe) interviewed with her mom and dad said, "It is a miracle".

[Wilber_Stool]

26. From the story:

She had been aware of her surroundings but unable to make any sounds other than loud crying until a month ago........

It doesn't even say weather she could walk or not. We'll just have to wait for the full story.

[DURHAM D]

35. My parents and sister live in Hutch - think I will call and get

the low down. Sounds like a certain level of bs to me.

[bamacrat]

38. Has prayer been thanked yet?

Oh god someone thank him or bushy will kill an iraqi family

[Jamastiene]

50. He'll do it anyhow...

Bush is a mass murdering shit head, after all. God still needs to be thanked. Let's all thank him and pray for yours truly to get her wish whilst we are at it, if you all don't mind anyhow.

[Cori Cycle]

41. Naw Naw... you guys don't get this,

Sarah told her self, "Wiggle your big toe...Wiggle your big toe...Wiggle your big toe..."

That's exactly what happened

[dubyaD40web]

49. WRONG!.....funny but WRONG!

"Your name is Buck?