Word: overeers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Nearly all of his voluntary muscles were paralyzed - including those controlling eye movement - but his brain functioned almost completely normally. He suffered from "locked-in syndrome," in which patients are aware of their surroundings but unable to communicate to the outside world. In the past three years, Houben has learned...
How did Houben's case come to light? Over the past five years, Laureys and others have studied brain-injury patients classified as being in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). In such states, patients awake from a coma and return to a normal sleep cycle, but show no signs of...
Why are these kinds of misdiagnoses so common? There are several reasons. Laureys and other experts have found that some PVS patients' brains may heal over time, although this is much more infrequent in injuries caused by stroke or cardiac arrest. And many patients are treated in long-term care...
Doctors, too, sometimes fail to distinguish between PVS and minimal consciousness. PVS and minimally conscious patients are at high risk of infection and can be heavily medicated, which may affect their responsiveness when tested by doctors. Popular diagnostic tools may also be to blame. In a study published in the...
Are there legal ramifications for cases such as Houben's? The distinction between PVS and minimal consciousness has caused legal problems for years now. High-profile cases - most notably that of Floridian Terri Schiavo, whose husband ended her life in 2005 over the vehement protestations of Republican politicians - demonstrate how...