Posted on 11/14/2012 6:20:31 AM PST by NYer
More than 12 years after a car accident left him in a vegetative state, a Canadian man has begun communicating with doctors who are monitoring his brain activity through Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans.
The BBC reports that 39-year-old Scott Routley has been able to communicate to doctors that he is not in any pain, marking the first time an uncommunicative, severely brain-damaged patient has been able to give direct answers regarding their care and treatment.
"Scott has been able to show he has a conscious, thinking mind," British neuroscientist Adrian Owen told the BBC. "We have scanned him several times and his pattern of brain activity shows he is clearly choosing to answer our questions. We believe he knows who and where he is."
Owen leads a team at the Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, which used MRI scans to measure responses from Routley.
Traditional tests have continued to indicate that Routley is in a vegetative state, with no relevant brain activity. Owen and other doctors say this means medical text books will literally need to be re-written when it comes to evaluating patients suffering from severe brain injuries.
Routley's previous neurologist said that for a decade all test results taken from scans of Routley's brain indicated he was not experiencing any mental activity.
"I was impressed and amazed that he was able to show these cognitive responses, said University Hospital's Bryan Young. "He had the clinical picture of a typical vegetative patient and showed no spontaneous movements that looked meaningful."
Owen says the results could lead to improved patient care for those living with severe brain injuries, making a major improvement in the daily of patients, including routine tasks such as when they prefer to be fed or bathed.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
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Remember Terri Schiavo
This shows that there is part of us that exists beyond physical consciousness. Have we stumbled upon the human soul?
“Remember Terri Schiavo”
Yeah, it’s a little late for her, and the bloodthirsty partisan murderers in Florida, and the Cowards Bush.
So, they will stop harvesting organs from “brain dead” patients immediately, correct?
“So, they will stop harvesting organs from “brain dead” patients immediately, correct?”
Except in China, of course.
I cannot imagine being trapped within only the confines of my thoughts and no way to tell the outside world I am in pain or any other discomfort.
Yikes!
Exactly what I was thinking.
A former classmate of mine made the decision to pull his wife off life support, just last night.
She had been brain dead for 5 days; and, apparently the doctors use 5 days as a measuring stick. They told him ‘it was time to make some decisions’.
He obviously loved her very much - he poured his heart out for 5 days on a blog like site called Caring Bridge. His wife’s mother and sister were there, when they ‘pulled the plug’, so I think they were in agreement.
I was astonished that 5 days seemd to be the limit...the point at which the doctors started pressuring him to remove her from the machines. But, I have no medical expertise whatsoever, and I assume the doctors know when there is ‘no chance’.
Then this article comes along...and I don’t know what to think.
doesn’t matter here. ObieCare ain’t gonna cover keeping the Vega Table folks alive.
Try 30 seconds, and the brain still functioning. My Dad went on a ventilator, and within 30 seconds a little RAT-FACED Dr with a foreign accent was telling me to pull the plug.
Dad was still awake, and able to communicate by squeezing our hands. Once for yes. Twice for no. I told rat face that he was not God, and he couldn’t possibly know how things would turn out. I demanded that the antibiotics be given time to work.
Death panels have been here for a while already.
Sad story. I’m sure this article would freak him out. I’d hate having to make that decision for my wife.
Yes and everyone will after this article gets more attention. That woman was much more animated than this patient. Murder! Murder!
May her husband burn in hell.
This will not sit well with the death panels!
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