Or so it seems, from this research:
Patients left in a “vegetative” state after suffering devastating brain damage are able to understand and communicate, groundbreaking research suggests.
Experts using brain scans have discovered for the first time that the victims, who show no outward signs of awareness, can not only comprehend what people are saying to them but also answer simple questions.
They were able to give yes or no responses to simple biographical questions.
No, the technique those researchers use doesn’t work with every PVS patient. But they claim it did work with some. As the article also notes:
It will raise questions about when doctors should switch off life support machines. It is likely to add to the debate on assisted suicide as the patient could potentially decide and communicate if they wish to carry on living.
I’ll bet. And a good thing, too.
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This is astonishing! Perhaps this can lead to some cure in the future, since doctors are able to communicate with them. I still think that miracles can still happen. We don’t know what the future holds. But we know who holds the future. Lets give these patients and their families some hope.
You shouldn’t get your hopes up just yet. This field has a history of over-hypeing findings and even of outright frauds like some practitioners of facilitated communication – they can basically operate the patient’s hands like an ouija board without even realising it. Plus fMRI isn’t a very reliable technology – one operator was able to detect signs of human-like brain activity in a dead salmon when he attempted to demonstrate the machine’s propensity for false positives.
Wait for independant verification and only then start the celebrations.