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Medical Forum / General / General / May 2005Coma patients might be able to ask to die
There's an interesting article about researchers being able to tell which of a set of a 8 patterns a subject is looking at by using functional MRI scanning. Researchers also showed two overlapping patterns, asked the subject to focus on one of them, and they were able to tell which pattern the subject was focusing on. The article is at: http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/package.jsp?name=fte/readyourmind/readyourmind (from the journal Nature Neuroscience) The article closes with the comments "One exciting application: Doctors could use it to find out if comatose patients are actually conscious." My immediate thought was that they could use this technique to ask if the coma patient wanted to live. "Focus on this pattern if you would like to die..." Then I wondered if a conscious coma patient was actually perceiving visual stimuli. We might learn a lot from yes/no questions. Maybe coma patients are in a blissfull lucid dream, and never want to die. Richard >Maybe coma patients are in a blissfull lucid dream, and >never want to die. As if all comas were all the same.... Assuming you're thinking of profound, Schiavoesque cases, I would say this: You make the mistake of assuming there is a consciousness there, a self-awareness, even if only in dreams. Well, we know where dreams happen, and those areas in her case were gone. Wiped out. Gone. Literally. But even if there is some underlying consciousness we haven't discovered yet lurking in the lower brain, you overlook the concepts of rational thought, self awareness, and informed decision making. Without those things, you are... what? You are a head in a bed. That's it. You consume, you pee, you defecate, and you do so at huge expense. So even if your brainstem were in some primal, blissful dream, why should society keep you alive when doing so will mean the death of others who could become functioning human beings again? richard_m...@hotmail.com wrote: > There's an interesting article about researchers being able to tell > which of a set of a 8 patterns a subject is looking at by using > functional MRI scanning. Researchers also showed two overlapping > patterns, asked the subject to focus on one of them, and they were able > to tell which pattern the subject was focusing on. The article is at: http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/package.jsp?name=fte/readyourmind/readyourmind > (from the journal Nature Neuroscience) > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > questions. Maybe coma patients are in a blissfull lucid dream, and > never want to die. Hi Richard, Just wanted to say thank you for passing that on. I'm doing a nursing course at present and am working on an independant research project on euthanasia - has to be in by Monday - your Netscape article will help. Regards D > Richard > richard_m...@hotmail.com wrote: > > There's an interesting article about researchers being able to tell [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > able > > to tell which pattern the subject was focusing on. The article is at: http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/package.jsp?name=fte/readyourmind/readyourmind > > (from the journal Nature Neuroscience) > > [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > > > Richard Seen that classy sassy Ms. Sheep ~ ? > There's an interesting article about researchers being able to tell > which of a set of a 8 patterns a subject is looking at by using [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > Richard Why should we bother? Soon coma cases will be offed quickly and quietly, cost you know. |
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