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posted by martyb on Tuesday September 26 2017, @01:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the pathway-to-freedom-or-fate-worse-than-death? dept.

Surgery to embed a nerve-stimulating implant in a patient in a persistent vegetative state (15 years), resulted in the patient reverting to a "minimally conscious" state.

After lying in a vegetative state for 15 years, a 35-year-old male patient in France appears to have regained minimal consciousness following months of vagus nerve stimulation, researchers report today in Current Biology.

The patient, who suffered severe brain damage in a car crash, had shown no signs of awareness or improvement before. He made no apparent purposeful movements and didn't respond to doctors or family at his bedside. But after researchers surgically implanted a device that stimulates the vagus nerve, quiet areas of his brain began to perk up—as did he.

His eyes turned toward people talking and could follow a moving mirror. He turned his head to follow a speaker moving around his bed. He slowly shook his head when asked. When researchers suddenly drew very close to his face, his eyes widened as if he was surprised or scared. When caregivers played his favorite music, he smiled and shed a tear.

Note that "respond" is on the level of "turning his head when asked, though that took a minute."

A few thoughts on this:

  • Medical advances are COOL!
    • Hopefully, this advance can help some folks.
  • This makes ethical questions concerning patients in persistent vegetative states more urgent:
    • (e.g. the question of whether/when to pull the plug has become even more confusing)
  • This introduces some new ethical questions:
    • Is it ethical to "bring back" someone after 15 years? (the world has changed quite significantly)
    • Is it ethical to "bring back" someone to a state where they're might just barely be conscious enough to realise how much their state sucks?

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by vux984 on Tuesday September 26 2017, @04:38PM (2 children)

    by vux984 (5045) on Tuesday September 26 2017, @04:38PM (#573235)

    Yes, but at the same time, you would be able to let the person decide whether they want to die.

    No. You would NOT be able to let the person decide whether they want to die. This person is not sufficiently conscious / competent to make that decision. I thought that was FatPhil's entire point. That THIS person has been brought back to this 'minimal level of consciousness' but CANNOT choose to die. Even if proper euthanasia legislation existed, he wouldn't qualify as competent enough to make the decision.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Fnord666 on Tuesday September 26 2017, @05:23PM

    by Fnord666 (652) on Tuesday September 26 2017, @05:23PM (#573272) Homepage

    No. You would NOT be able to let the person decide whether they want to die. This person is not sufficiently conscious / competent to make that decision. I thought that was FatPhil's entire point. That THIS person has been brought back to this 'minimal level of consciousness' but CANNOT choose to die. Even if proper euthanasia legislation existed, he wouldn't qualify as competent enough to make the decision.

    Isn't that the point of a living will? At a time when you are competent to make that decision for yourself, you legally dictate what you want to have happen.

  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday September 26 2017, @07:30PM

    by Immerman (3985) on Tuesday September 26 2017, @07:30PM (#573423)

    Bullshit.
    They may not be *legally* allowed to choose for themselves, but whoever has the legal authority to make that choice for them has the option of respecting their wishes.