http://www.wvsom.edu/Welcome/WhatsNew/Coma803.html http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/miraclewoman991229.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/07/13/wcoma13.xml http://www.stress-cocchi.org/Speculation2.htm I am new to FR so I hope those links work.
The mind and soul are places that some Doctors only partially understand and others understand nothing of.
I have cared for patients that MD's swore were in a persistent vegetative state but I being the nurse taking care of them for 12 hrs at a time through the night could see there were times when they were lighter and trying to wake up.
In one tragic situation a 17yr old that had been run over by a truck, had both a brain injury from the vehicle and then brain injury from the hypoxia when his aorta ruptured and he bled out was responding to me. The ICU nurses had to take the MD to ethics committee to force him to start physical therapy. He continued to claim persistent vegetative state.
The boy had multiple fractures including his back that were never treated and by the time the full treatment for his injuries were compelled by the ethics committee his body twisted and broken from unset fractures healing improperly that he had minimal mobility. He woke up though. Although he didn't remember anything immediately surrounding the accident and his months in a coma he talked freely about forgiving the driver that hit him and then backed a truck over his chest and head because holding the hatred only hurt him more..
It is rare but people do wake up after years. Just because she can't communicate doesn't mean she doesn't know everything that is going on. It doesn't mean she doesn't know every word that is said in her presence.
The links are about people that have awakened after years in a coma.