The Washington Post has an interesting new report on experiments into the mental alertness levels of people with a serious brain injury. The experiments have shown that some of these patients, who are in a vegetative state, continue to have active minds.
Up until now, the general theory has been that persons with severe brain injuries who have lapsed into a vegetative state, have no brain function, and little awareness of the world around them. In this context, the findings of the study by the Medical Research Council have been described as "groundbreaking". The results of the study have been published online by the New England Journal of Medicine.
The researchers used new technologies to monitor the brain functions of 54 patients with severe brain damage to determine if they were conscious and alert. The study included 54 patients, out of who 24 were in a vegetative state and 31 were diagnosed as being in a state of minimal consciousness. Five of these patients were able to activate their brain, just like normal people could. Out of these, 4 were in a vegetative state, and 1 was in a state of minimal consciousness.
The patients both men and women, were individually placed inside sophisticated brain scanners, and technicians gave the patients a series of instructions. They were told to imagine playing tennis or exploring rooms in their homes.
For most of the patients, there were no results on the scanner, indicating lack of brain reactions. However, for a few, the results on the scanner were just like those to be expected in any healthy, normal person who is alert and conscious. One of the patients, according to researchers, was even able to answer detailed questions on his life simply by activating different areas of the brain.
These results have obviously been shocking, and raise several questions that challenge what California brain injury lawyers and doctors have believed so far - that a person in a severely vegetative state is not conscious or alert and cannot respond to instructions. Not all of the patients in the study showed these kinds of responses. In fact, most of them didn't. It's also very clear - and the researchers admitted this -that there needs to be more research into this. The researchers and experts insist that the findings of the study do not necessarily mean that there are a lot of patients in vegetative states, who have a chance of recovery. In cases where there has been severe damage to the brain, it is highly unlikely, and in fact, almost impossible that there could be any response or awareness.
Approximately 20,000 people in the country live in a vegetative state. This means that they are alive, but have no sense of awareness. Between 100,000 to 300,000 patients are a minimally conscious state. Persons in this state display signs of impaired or occasional awareness.
Over the past few years, there had been much research to indicate that some of these patients could have been misdiagnosed, and capable of more awareness than known. The new findings only corroborate those results.
Author Resource:-
The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated to the representation of personal injury victims. Please visit our website at
trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.
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