It appears there may be a way to improve the condition of patients in a persistent unconscious and minimally conscious states. From the New Scientist story: People who have been in a minimally conscious state for weeks or years...
Read MoreThese stories are worth keeping in mind: In Canada, a patient thought unconscious for ten years was found able to communicate using sophisticated brain scans. From the 2012 BBC story: Whether a patient is in pain is an important...
Read MoreImagine you are in a hospital or nursing home with a brain injury. Doctors say you are “not there,” but you are. And you hear doctors tell your family to stop giving you food and water! Imagine what that would feel...
Read More“Persistent vegetative state” is the only medical diagnosis I know of that contains a pejorative. No human being is a carrot. And the more we learn about these persistently unconscious patients, the more we seem to...
Read MoreUh-oh. NYU Bioethicist Art Caplan seems to suggest — in the context of a story about former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon — that we should not maintain people like Terri Schiavo and others, who are either in a...
Read MorePatients diagnosed as persistently unconscious may be the most scorned people on earth. I mean, who else could be called a turnip or carrot with impunity? It is within the context of this “unrepentent bigotry” that I...
Read MoreBy Wesley J. Smith, J.D., Special Consultant to the CBC A neurologist named Dr. Rohan Ramakrishna tells of a potential treatment for persistent vegetative state. From the MSNBC report: Researchers from the University of Munich...
Read MoreBy Wesley J. Smith, J.D., Special Consultant to the CBC Bioethics exploded into the headlines over the last few weeks after the Journal of Medical Ethics published an article promoting “after-birth abortion,” that...
Read MoreBy Wesley J. Smith, J.D., Special Consultant to the CBC Bioethics exploded into the headlines over the last few weeks after the Journal of Medical Ethics published an article promoting “after-birth abortion,” that...
Read MoreBy Wesley J. Smith, J.D., Special Consultant to the CBC There has been some media buzz about a new test that appears to show some patients, previously diagnosed as unaware (persistent vegetative state), can actually perceive....
Read MoreBy Wesley J. Smith, J.D., Special Consultant to the CBCFull disclosure: I am very close with the Schindler family. (Terri’s siblings and mother. Her father Bob died last year, his health destroyed by grief over what happened to...
Read MoreWesley J. Smith, our special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network has another great piece you can read here. Organ donation – yes. But donation is the operative word!The Drive to Redefine Defenseless...
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