One of the partisan web sites on the Theresa Schiavo case is www.terrisfight.org, where one of the links is a “Timeline.”

 

Sample entry:

“May 8 - Schiavo ex girlfriend (Cyndi) refuses to testify for fear of Schiavo.” – That would be Cynthia (Cyndi) Shook, a nurse attending Mrs. Schiavo who became romantically involved with her patient’s husband; later testified that Schiavo denied that his wife ever said anything about artificial life support; then (above) refused to testify in court on the same matter. Among her expressed concerns at the deposition were her own husband and children.

 

The web site does not provide many documents; nor is there any effort to be balanced or objective, to allow Mr. Schiavo or his supporters to rebut; etc. However, there is one document of interest.

 

This is the original discharge paper from HumanaHospital, St. PetersburgFL, where Ms. Schiavo was a patient from 2-25-90 to 5-9-90. The discharge summary is signed by Dr. Samir Shah, the attending physician, and lists eight other physicians as consultants. The admitting diagnosis was “Cardiopulmonary arrest,” and the final diagnoses were “Cardiac arrest,” “Hypoxic brain damage,” “Severe hypopotassemia,” “Respiratory failure,” “Seizure disorder secondary to hypoxic encephalopathy,” “Pneumonia,” and “Right knee fusion.”

 

It has come to my attention that some commentators and rightwing interest groups have brought out innuendos even about Ms. Schiavo’s initial collapse – questioning, for example, how a young woman in good health could have such lowered potassium.

 

Here, without editing/emendation, are the first paragraphs from the hospital discharge summary:

 

“BRIEF HISTORY:  This is a 26 year old white female not known to me prior to admission who was brought to the emergency room and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit after stabilization in the emergency room.”

 

“She was apparently in good health and was found by her husband on the morning of admission on the floor with difficulty breathing and gasping for air. She was unresponsive. The paramedics were called and it took several minutes for resuscitation. She needed to be defibrillated several times at home and was also severely hypotensive.”

 

“She responded in the emergency room to some extent with Dopamine.”

 

“Examination showed decerebration and focal seizure activity.”

 

“Her only significant recent history was she was being treated by her gynecologist for a vaginal infection with local cream. Her allergies were treated in the past with Danedryl.” [?]

 

“Further history revealed that she apparently has been trying to keep her weight down with dieting by herself, drinking liquids most of the time during the day and drinking about 10-15 glasses of iced tea. In the past, she lost about 65 pounds a few years ago.”

 

A few paragraphs farther, this medical suggestion is picked up:

 

“After potassium supplement, her potassium did increase, but stayed on a lower range and became normal the next day.”

 

“The rest of the chemistries revealed LDH 376, SGOT 95, calcium 7.4, inorganic phosphorus 7.1, uric acid 8.6, albumin 2.0 and total protein 4.1, suggestive of some malnutrition. Total CPK did go up to 4,000, but isoenzymes were less than 2 percent. Serial CPK and other enzymes did not reveal evidence of myocardial infarction. Compliment studies were within normal range.”