Study Shows People in “Vegetative” State Were Incorrectly Diagnosed

There is more encouraging news coming out of Canada regarding the very unscientific persistent vegetative state (PVS) diagnosis. Once again there has been a study regarding three people who were incorrectly thought to be in a PVS.

Why is this so important? One reason is that the PVS diagnosis can be used as a motive to kill a person with a brain injury, as it was in my sister, Terri Schiavo’s case. This is not the first time this type of testing has taken place with similar types of results.

From the story, “Brain scans reveal which ‘vegetative’ patients are alert, trapped in bodies”:

A man who had appeared to have been in a vegetative state for 12 years knew his name and knew where he was, Canadian researchers report in a study showing it’s possible to use MRI brain scans to establish communication with people who seem completely unconscious. Three people tested using a special form of MRI called functional magnetic resonance imaging were able to answer simple “yes” or “no” questions, the team at Western University in London, Ontario report.

And once again, just like most of these reports where they find people have been wrongly diagnosed as being in a PVS, they felt it necessary to point out that there is no way possible that they were wrong when Terri Schiavo was diagnosed as being in PVS and then subsequently killed because of it.

In fact, they often say, as in this report, the autopsy proved it. To help strengthen their claim, they bring in the “experts” like the “omniscient” bioethicist, Art Caplan who believes it was okay to deny Terri the same tests he seems to approve for others in similar conditions:

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Study Shows People in “Vegetative” State Were Incorrectly Diagnosed