Do vegetative people have the ability to think?

Neuroscientists have conducted a medically and ethically profound experiment and for the first time allowed an apparently unconscious patient in a persistent vegetative state to communicate through his mind.

A woman who suffered a head injury in a road traffic accident last year appeared unable to communicate and did not respond to any stimulus, but she played tennis in her head at the request of a Cambridge University research team And wandered around his own home.

“These results are surprising,” said Adrian Owen of the Medical Research Council Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge. The scientific group leads the project. The 23-year-old female patient's brain activity has been mapped using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

"Although this patient was diagnosed in a vegetative state, she retained the ability to understand verbal commands and respond through brain activity rather than speech or movement," Owen said. "Her decision to cooperate with us and imagine a specific task based on our instructions is a clear intentional act and conclusive evidence that she consciously recognizes herself and her surroundings."

He said, If the technology is developed further, doctors may be able to identify patients with some cognitive ability, "but we have to be extremely careful when interpreting negative results. No response does not necessarily mean no cognitive ability, e.g. There may be something wrong with the auditory system."

These results will raise ethical debate about how to treat patients who have been in a vegetative state for some time and under what circumstances their life can be cut off. Support system.

“Given that these patients may be conscious and able to make decisions for themselves, is it acceptable for others to end their lives without their consent?” Royal Holloway, University of London asked Narender Ramnani, senior lecturer in cognitive neuroscience at Holloway University ITy of London.