"Vegetative State" Patients Can Communicate

Kittenman writes "The BBC is carrying a story about researchers in the UK and Belgium who can detect the thinking processes within a patient previously thought to be in a vegetative state. The researchers ask the patient verbally to think in certain ways to indicate a 'yes', in other ways to indicate a 'no' — and have successfully communicated with 4 out of 23 patients previously thought to be in a coma."

Comments

fMRI is not perfect

[bitslinger_42]

If you haven't check out this study publicized in Wired, where they detected human emotion activity in the brain of a salmon. A dead salmon.

Just because the fMRI shows some colors, that doesn't necessarily mean that there's really cognition going on. It could just be false detections from imperfect scanning, or it could be scientists seeing patterns in data that don't really exist, or it could be the result of our imperfect understanding of how the brain works, or a whole slew of other things.

This is made worse by things like the Houben case, which used Facilitated Communication to "prove" that Houben had an intact consciousness. FC hasn't passed any rigorous scientific study (i.e. blind tests to prevent the facilitator's motivations/desires from modifying the results), but stories like Houben cause those with loved ones with sever brain damage in PVS to start clamoring that there may still be hope. James Randi has written about FC, and the Houben case in particular.

Re:Summary wrong: Not a coma!

[Lumpy]

Lots of horrible things happened. Insides of coffins from the earlier centuries were found to have scratch marks from the people inside waking up. Many declared dead were not dead but simply very sick. etc....

Honestly, How would you like to be incapacitated but aware and thrown onto a pyre... Yay! my last moments are insane amounts of agony as I am burned to death.

Re:Summary wrong: Not a coma!

[BitZtream]

Save them from what?

Save them from the end, death.

I was just thinking about this the other day. If I'm still mentally capable but unable to communicate or move, I think I still want to live.

I like to think and contemplate, which if I was still capable of doing so, I'd like to continue that rather than die. It'd be great if I could 'think' and then tell people, but I'd rather think and not tell people that to just be gone.

Its possible a solution could come in the future, and either way I have time to work on ascension. ;)

You're really look at it from the perspective of people surrounding the person on life support. Making it easier on everyone else, under the guise of being for the PVS person. This is clear from your lack of sympathy for those that may have been wrongly diagnosed. I understand being selfish, its natural, which is why I'd rather be kept alive. I'm selfish and want every opportunity I can possibly get to resolve the issue some way other than my death, even if its hard on my family.