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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: 5, Touché) by Grishnakh on Tuesday September 26 2017, @04:39PM (4 children)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Tuesday September 26 2017, @04:39PM (#573236)

    Let's try this. We meet up in Times Square, in New York. No phones, no maps, no GPS, no nothing. You get a car, I get a car, and money for gas. We drive to Balboa Park in San Diego. ... You navigate your way across the continent, based on your knowledge of the USA. Can you do it? ... how many of your generation can do it? Not very damned many, that's for sure. You are dependent on your devices.

    Your generation is pathetically dependent on your devices: you need a motorcar to get around? You can't even walk, or ride a horse? And you have to use roads instead of navigating by compass or using the stars? Whippersnapper. You probably wouldn't even survive without manufactured clothing; can you even make your own clothes?

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 26 2017, @05:04PM (3 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 26 2017, @05:04PM (#573257) Journal

    Actually, I can walk. I would prefer to ride a horse. And, I'll get to Balboa Park, either way.

    Compass, no problem. I'm far from the best of stargazers, but I can find the dippers and tne North Star.

    Now, clothing, you've got me on. I've made clothes, from cloth - that is manufactured cloth. But, no, I've never made my own yard, never made my own cotton or homespun, or hemp fabric. So long as you permit me to use manufactured cloth, yes, I can make clothing. That would delay my departure from Times Square though.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 26 2017, @05:19PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 26 2017, @05:19PM (#573268)

      #lifefailure
      #learn2knit
      #geezerswtweezers

    • (Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Tuesday September 26 2017, @07:21PM (1 child)

      by curunir_wolf (4772) on Tuesday September 26 2017, @07:21PM (#573410)

      Cotton? Hemp? Wouldn't it be easier just to find an animal with plenty of fur and wear THAT?

      Actually, hemp or any fibrous plant is easy to work with. You don't need to spin it into cloth, you just braid it into string and do a cross-hatch. I've made sandals that way.

      --
      I am a crackpot
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 26 2017, @09:08PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 26 2017, @09:08PM (#573503)

        Clothes! When I were a lad we grew hair if we wanted to be born. Pushed it out by sheer willpower. Don't give me "clothes" littl'un.