Scott Thomas: cognizant and communicative, but does it matter?

Here's a story just emerging (The Empire Journal, as usual, is the first to cover it) about a man with severe brain damage whose wife wants to remove his feeding tube. Scott Thomas is apparently aware, responsive and able to communicate.

Reminiscent of several similar cases, Scott received his injury last November while alone at home with the person who now wants him to die. His wife says he tripped over the dog and fell; his mother claims there was foul play. At this point, I don't think we have enough information to make any kind of judgement, since the Empire Journal seems only to have interviewed the mother and any investigations have not been completed. We need to be careful not to condemn Eliza Thomas on the basis of hearsay by someone who has a motive to see her blamed.

Here are two articles that have been published in The Empire Journal:

Cognizant Jacksonville Man in Life and Death Tug-of-War

Schindlers to Jacksonville Wife: Err on Side of Life

"According to Ms. Patton, her son speaks a limited vocabulary, gives affirmative and negative hand signals and has successfully answered questions of where he lives, where he attended school and his situation. She states that he is aware and oriented. She says he has steadily progressed towards recovery since his injury."

Scott Thomas' wife and mother are in a legal battle for guardianship. His wife Eliza wants to move him to hospice and have his feeding tube withdrawn. Scott's mother, Pamela Patton, claims that Scott has indicated to herself and to nursing staff that Eliza tried to kill him by hitting him on the head and that he doesn't even want to see her. According to Scott's mother, Eliza has ordered medical personnel to not give Mrs. Patton or other family members any information about Scott's medical condition. (I am guessing this must have been before Mrs. Patton received temporary guardianship, as I can't imagine anyone being able to withold that type of information from a person's guardian.)

"In November, Scott's mother received a six-month temporary guardianship of her son but Eliza is now seeking to become Scott's guardian even though he has indicated to nursing staff and others that his wife allegedly tried to kill him by striking him in the head.

A guardianship hearing is scheduled June 3 before Fourth Judicial Circuit Court Judge William Wilkes in Jacksonville."

Mrs. Patton is arranging to have Scott Thomas examined by Dr. William Hammesfahr, the neurologist who examined Terri Schiavo and said he saw signs of physical violence.

Personally, I hope Mrs. Thomas will also get opinions from other more widely known and respected neurologists rather than banking on the neurologist who helped lose the Terri Schiavo case and is otherwise relatively unknown. This isn't a criticism of Dr. Hammesfahr as a doctor, but if I were choosing an expert witness I'd want one who had a track record of winning cases and who was affiliated with a respected agency such as the American Academy of Neurology.

It seems the Schindlers have also gotten involved. "Terri Schiavo's family is asking Mrs. Eliza Thomas to err on the side of life. According to them, the dehydration and starvation death suffered by their daughter in March of this year was anything but a peaceful and painless death."

My thought is that if Mrs. Patton has already succeeded in receiving temporary guardianship of Scott Thomas in preference to Eliza Thomas, she should have a fairly decent chance of getting permanent guardianship.

I'll be watching this story with interest.