well, I have seen "vegetative state"...
Those with "brain death" have a flat EEG (EKG is heart rhythm, not brain). Those on sedative medication might also have a flat EEG
People with PVS have some brain function.
The problem is that at least 30 percent of people "diagnosed" with "PVS" are not PVS
People with PVS do not respond to visual stimulation and smile, although they do respond to deep pain. THey "wake" but their eyes don't focus. They rarely can eat. They just sit there.
Terri obviously knows her parents and smiles.
The problem is that many physicians despise brain damaged people.
I've had expeience withneurologists" who say people have PVS, or "near PVS" and advise us to kill these people--even when I, as a physician, know they are NOT PVS, because they don't meet the criteria or because they are lethargic from their seizure medications.
One of my patients had frontal lobe syndrome, with excessive emotions, and we had a neurologist see he to see if her crying was from seizures and if it could be treated. Instead of helping, he spent almost an hour trying to talk her relatives into taking out her feeding tube...insisting her life was useless. However, the patient and her family were native Americans, and told him off. Later, the niece told me: That's the difference between you white people and we Indians. We respect our elders...
Did you ever see the film where a bunch of mentally retarded people were caught in the crossfire in the Lebanon civil war? For three days they were neglected, since anyone moving nearby was shot at. Then MOther Teresa announced: Tomorrow, me and my sisters will go and rescue them. Even though warned, she persisted...and saved 60 of these people...
There's an EXCELLENT article in the NY Times magazine about how much IS going on in the minds of persons in PVS. This article will astonish people who think that 'vegetative' patients have no consciousness:
(A sidenote: Speaking of native Americans, see post 39 in above link for a picture and article about Patti White Bull, a native American woman who "woke up" after 16 years in a persistent vegetative state -- Patti White Bull.)