The Pickering family from Texas is celebrating a miracle this Christmas, which so nearly did not happen. With doctors about to turn off a life support machine keeping George Pickering’s son alive, a desperate and armed George intervened, determined his son would live. This year has been an eventful one for George Pickering II and his son George Pickering III. George Jr. has made a full recovery after being in a coma. With doctors set to turn off his life support machine, his savior proved to be his own father. Upon hearing that doctors had given up hope, a drunk and armed George Sr. marched towards the Tomball Regional Medical Center in Houston, Texas, determined to make sure his son was given more time to make a recovery, even if it meant he would spend time in jail. George Sr. barricaded himself inside with his 27-year-old son as he managed to hold off police, before something amazing happened. “Towards the end of the standoff, which was about three hours long, he felt his son squeeze his hand,” the family’s lawyer Phoebe Smith told RT. “At this time, the SWAT team had already opened the door to the critical care room and he had surrendered to the police, but he surrendered knowing his son had squeezed his hand,” she added. George Jr. had fallen into a coma after suffering a stroke in January. Doctors had declared him brain dead, while George II’s ex-wife and other son made the decision to turn off the life support machine. However, there was one person who was not going to give up hope. “The SWAT team had their own doctors and when they entered into the critical care room, they saw that my client’s son was not brain dead because he was making eye contact, was following their commands and they were completely amazed at this,” Smith added. The Pickerings' family lawyer also praised the courage and determination shown by George Sr. “The amazing thing was that my client was right and that his son did survive. When you see him now, he is a picture of health. I don’t think he would have survived but for the fact that his father slowed the process down." After feeling signs of life from his son, George Sr. peacefully surrendered to the police. He was subsequently sentenced to 10 months’ prison time. He was released in December, just in time to spend Christmas with his son.
Not so fast. I just tracked down this story I was going to ask you to provide a source for. I see its being carried on Yahoo news. This story is full of questionable conclusions because: 1-the state of Texas does not allow the hospital to do what it seems to be accused of doing; 2-no hospital can not turn off a breathing machine or heart machine in Texas or in any state of the US without next of kin consent or a court order which this report infers was being done by the hospital; 3-furthermore with today's technology, a brain dead person would not be mistaken with a person whose brain is functioning but in a coma-today's testing clearly differentiates the two; 4-reflexes such as squeezing the hand or eyes appearing to focus or be open or even facial movement and grimacing are not necessarily indicative of brain function-there could be reflex actions not dependent on neurological function to be able to occur and yes they can even continue after someone's heart has stopped and they have been dead for over an hour. This story appears full of legal and medical nonsense. I would suggest its not accurate.
Further to the above the yahoo news reports refers to a man being saved and the actual person saved is a baby. As well there is no interview with any doctor for their side of the story but we know the father who supposedly saved his son's life stormed into the hospital drunk with a rifle holding people hostage. There's a lot more to this story and what is reported is damn shoddy
You must have missed the part where the mother and a brother had given consent for the machine to be turned off. Texas is a big place, and if the patient was in a smaller facility I can well believe the most modern technology was not available. Not everyone lives in Dallas or Houston.
guys... I will be honest, I didn't believe this story at first either, it reaked of "the onion" and its type of wacky stories... so I dug around... turns out, this is true... I'm still in shock its true, but since you won't accept "RT" which I'm not really sure what that is myself, will you accept the towns local area news station who interviewed him before trial? the story below is from april 16th 2015... seems this even happened in january of 2015... video included in link of interview with local reporters... http://abc13.com/news/dad-involved-in-tomball-hospital-standoff-opens-up-to-abc-13/664914/ and here is the same local station, covering the standoff at the hospital... back in january of 2015... http://abc13.com/news/tomball-hospital-standoff-ends-with-suspect-in-custody/470151/ and here is another houston news source... with mug shot of the man... http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Man-charged-in-Tomball-hospital-standoff-6008383.php and yet another news source linked to texas... http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hostage-situation-underway-at-texas-hospital/ this all seems legit folks... several major news sources that followed the court case, did interviews, and I'm sure someone with more knowledge the texas court system could easily find a place online to pull the court records filed or otherwise? P.S. anyone who owes Fallen an apology, feel free to make it public... call him out in public, apologize in public... just sayin, at least I took the time to look it up... (I'm quoting everyone because everyone was involved in this exchange, just thought I'd bring everyone up to speed, not claiming all are guilty)
I did acknowledge even I was skeptical, because that is quite the dramatic story... its literally a hollywood movie many people have already seen... where the distraught dad holds the hospital at gun point until his son gets on the organ donor registry and gets the heart or whatever it was he needed... and here we had a story almost identical and sensational it almost didn't seem real a father would go to such lengths to stop the plug from being pulled, and that somehow his son magically woke up in this brief time after being confirmed brain dead by the hospital... yet here we are, his son is alive and not brain dead even after multiple doctors said he was... and if this father had not taken this last stand, we may never have known and pulled the plug on someone who ultimately survived... just goes to show, even doctors make mistake... and just how little we really understand about the human body... this is almost a story made for tv movie type of event... the christmas miracle... someone will make it...
I fuc*ing hate Texas. Let them secede. This sh*t ranks up there with Terri Schaivo and made a laughing stock out of Florida.... not that it takes much with our zombies chewing faces out in Miami, a guy shooting another guy dead for texting in a movie theater in Tampa, and teenagers being shot dead in Jacksonville for playing their music too loud. I don't owe any crazy a$$ people down here or this network an apology or anything. Certainly, no one apologizes to me when they are wrong, why the hell must I pay someone the respect that no one bothers to pay me? End of discussion.
Where in the world do medics end someone's life ? Is that a place where there are no Doctors or nurses ?
well I guess being man enough to acknowledge when you were wrong, would demonstrate you are a better person than those you accuse of such poor behavior... however it seems by your actions and intent to act just like them, you are in fact not better than those you regard with such a vile hateful malice filled inside you... so I guess when you complain about them next time on this website, just remember, you are exactly like them... so don't be so upset they act like you... take a deep breathe... here is a music video to hopefully calm you down... [video=youtube;ghPcYqn0p4Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghPcYqn0p4Y[/video]
I'll just give this story the benefit of the doubt, though confusing brain death with coma is an intern level mistake. What point were you trying to make with this story? Yeah I think if I was governor there I would pardon him. His actions were extreme but he was defending his son.
It was a nice story for Christmas that was meant to inspire. But Im so glad that some brainwashed trolls had to ruin the moment. Some people let bias guide their thoughts and actions, even in the face different compelling fact. It's no better than being brainwashed. I'm glad that there are few people on this forum that can look beyond their bias and look at fact. Too many people on this forum cant.
If the story is true than the facts will come out. I speak for myself. I am no troll. I have a real problem with this story and continue to have probems with this story. I do not owe Fallen an apology as I never insulted him and never will. I have no reason to insult him. I agree with a lot of his stuff. Sometimes I do not. My comments are directed at the story itself and your response is appreciated, so is Merwin's comment, and Fallen has the 100% perfect right to present this story and I am sure he has no issues with what I said-he is not the issue the story is. It remains full of holes. Nothing you listed addressed those holes. What Merwin says makes sense. It could explain how consent was given because as I stated earlier and it remains my point no hospital would initiate pulling the plug on their own with the amount of law suits out there. Now what also remains is my point that I really have a problem with someone claiming a hospital does not know the difference between brain dead and someone in a coma, prior to pulling the plug-regardless of how small the hospital it is. Also the size and type of machines in the hospital are not material to the story. A breathing machine is the same in a small or large hospital. They don't change because of the size of the hospital. If someone is saying the size of the hospital led to it mistaking the patient in a coma not being brain dead I need proof of that. I see none. As I stated and continue to state, a neurologist, with basic neurological training would not assume someone brain dead without a specific test for that. This whole story centres on an alleged misdiagnose of coma for brain dead. Sorry but I am having a basic, fundamental medical problem with that. It is not correct to say people in comas can not be differentiated from brain dead people. This is not medically true but it remains a fear of those who fear euthanasia and death. If there was a medical misdiagnosis, then there would be evidence for that. I haven't seen any yet in any of the stories. Why is that important? Because the aggrieved father can sue for malpractice if that is the case. As for his arrest people miss the point. Being drunk and using a gun to save a life (the ends justifies the means) is not how the law works. If it allowed people off on this kind of behaviour its going to encourage others to do the same when in fact they are wrong-what does an innocent doctor or relative have to die before some of you get it? There's far more to the story. If indeed this father is the hero some of you think he is, that can come out in a malpractice law suit not just by his son, but by him. Alcohol and guns do not mix no matter how good you think the cause may be. Had the father not been drunk and demanded court intervention not using his gun I would be more sympathetic. I am a lawyer so I of course will argue that. I would also argue yes if it was my son I damn well would have done what the father did but it doesn't make it alright. Is he a criminal, yes. Should he be in jail, no. He should however be given a suspended sentence. Society can not condone drinking and using guns at the same time no matter how urgent the issue is. We have courts that do emergency law motions for such things. I know Texas law is not the fastest but to be fair it has emergency hearings for such things. That's where this belonged. That father could have got himself killed by police, or killed a cop. Then what? How does that help his son?
I can see you entirely missed the part where I said I was simply quoting everyone because they were involved in the discussion, and I did not do it to assign fault or guilt... it would appear you are quite defensive as if I somehow called you a liar... I did not... I was simply confirming for everyone, this event is indeed real and not made up... so please, take your offense someplace else, I did not call you a troll, I was simply confirming its indeed an actual event... and for those who did call him a liar for posting a fake story, those are the ones I expected to give him an apology... you can challenge the hearsay and opinions of the journalist all you would like... nobody said you can't... P.S. your panties are wound up so tight this morning, its almost the new year, unwind them.. P.S.S. in one of your messages you cited a yahoo news article claiming this was an event about a baby and a man who stormed in with a rifle... clearly the story you googled, and the several I linked to, are vastly different in facts... thats why I cited my sources, maybe next time cite yours for review since you deemed it the one we're supposed to be discussing apparently... http://www.politicalforum.com/showthread.php?t=437975&p=1065683291#post1065683291 thats the message you wrote making all sorts of claims about the article and facts of this case, yet you never linked to it... clearly the articles I cited from the local town media who was actually there interviewing people and getting police reports are probably a little more accurate... (basically I'm saying maybe you googled the wrong story)
So which news sources are allowed in your world? Let me guess. The corporate-owned western media who parrot the lies of the US government without a second thought.
Texas is a bad place to get ill if your poor it seems, they have real death panels Bush and Texas http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,151448,00.html this is why ONLY the next of kin should decide this stuff, not doctors .
This is the work of G-d. George Senior is an Angel of the Almighty, who held back the SWAT team, Soldiers of Satan.
