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Yes indeed.
"A report last year by Cambridge University researchers showed that patients who are apparently unconscious often have more brain function than previously suspected. The study showed that the brains of comatose patients responded to verbal stimuli in a similar manner to those of conscious volunteers. The team admitted it was "absolutely stunned" by the findings."
I think that especially because they do understand more, being surrounded by loved ones does give them stimulus and they do feel better, than in a hospital environment, where they are being treated as "vegetables".