(Lifenews.com) – A recent article by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Katie Engelhart in The New York Times takes a serious and much-needed look at the diagnosis of persistent vegetative state (PVS).
Titled “Vegetative Patients May Be More Aware Than We Knew,” the piece examines two decades of growing scientific evidence suggesting that nearly half of patients diagnosed as unaware may possess levels of consciousness that standard bedside examinations fail to detect. When you consider the hundreds of thousands of patients who could be affected by this diagnosis, there is reason for alarm.
Engelhart carefully documents the uncertainty surrounding PVS diagnoses, the limitations of current testing methods, and the troubling gap between access to advanced diagnostic tools and the availability of meaningful rehabilitation. CONTINUE