I just listened to Randi Rhodes for over two hours. People throw around the terms "brain dead" and "brain damaged" a lot, but they mean different things, and no one is specifying which, if any, apply to Schiavo's case.
Brain dead: Brain death is defined as a complete and irreversible cessation of brain activity. Absence of apparent brain function is not enough; evidence needs to be available that the condition is irreversible.
A brain dead individual has no electrical activity and no clinical evidence of brain function on neurologic examination (no response to pain, no cranial nerve reflexes (pupillary response (fixed pupils), oculocephalic reflex, corneal reflexes), and no spontaneous respirations). It is important to distinguish between brain death and
states that mimic brain death (eg. barbiturate intoxication, alcohol intoxication, sedative overdose, hypothermia, hypoglycemia, coma or
chronic vegetative states).
Some comatose patients can recover, and some patients with severe irreversible neurologic dysfunction will nonetheless retain some lower brain functions such as spontaneous respiration. In a brain dead individual, the brain tissue itself is necrotic (dead).
Thus anencephaly,
in which there is no higher brain present, is generally not considered brain death, although it is certainly an irreversible condition in which it may be
appropriate to withdraw life support.
http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/brain_deadSo. According to this definition, Schiavo is NOT brain dead. Brain death includes being unable to respirate on one's own. She can. She simply has no higher order brain functioning because her cerebral cortex is missing. Let's look at the definition for brain damaged.
Brain Damaged: Brain damage or brain injury is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells.
Brain damage may occur due to a wide range of conditions, illnesses or injuries. Possible causes of widespread (diffuse) brain damage include
prolonged hypoxia (shortage of oxygen), poisoning, infection or neurological illness. Common causes of focal or localized brain damage are physical trauma (head injury),
stroke, aneurysm or neurological illness.
Severe brain damage may result in persistent vegetative state, coma, or death.
(same website as source)
It looks as if, according to these basic, standard definitions of the terms, that Schiavo is brain damaged, not brain dead. You should not attach "better" or "worse" qualifications to either of these terms, as they are quite different.
I would say there even needs to be a more accurate term in Schiavo's case that would be along the lines of "cerebral cortex MISSING" since I have seen people misinterpret "brain damaged" to mean the brain is still there, just damaged. Which leads them to the idea that she can be "treated" or "rehabilitated." But you cannot treat what isn't there. HER brain damage has been so extensive, that what little is left of her brain only controls involuntary reflexes and processes in her body.
Go to this link and look at the illustration of a normal, healthy brain. All Schiavo has is the cerebellum and medulla oblongata (as pictured in that illustration). Everything else in the drawing belongs to the cerebral cortex.
http://health.allrefer.com/pictures-images/brain.htmlHere's another illustration showing all the lobes of the cerebral cortex. Imagine missing all of this:
http://health.allrefer.com/pictures-images/lobes-of-the-brain.htmlHere's a CT scan of a normal brain:
Here is a CT scan of Schiavo's brain: