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..........................When they examined her fMRI responses, they found that her fMRI patterns were identical to those of the normal awake volunteers. By fMRI criteria, she understood. In fact, by fMRI critera, she was as conscious as the normal volunteers. Her brain was massively damaged, to the extent that she had been diagnosed as having no mind at all. Yet the blood flow and metabolism patterns in her brain were those of a normal person. And just like normal people, she showed different fMRI responses to nonsense words. So she not only heard what was said to her, but she understood, and complied with the researchers’ requests to think about specific activities like playing tennis and walking across a room.
Owen’s study generated enormous interest among researchers, physicians and the public, not only for its implications for diagnosis of persistent vegetative state (e.g. the implications for the Terri Schiavo case), but because of what it suggests about deeper questions about the relationship between the mind and the brain. Many other studies of fMRI in patients in persistent vegetative state are underway, and several studies recently completed with other patients tend to support Owen’s findings.
From a scientific standpoint, Owen’s study is important for three reasons. The first is obvious; the last two are more subtle, but very important:
1) Owen’s study demonstrates that normal consciousness might be present in some patients who have met the clinical criteria for persistent vegetative state, which is defined as a state lacking consciousness.
2) It demonstrates that methods of assessing brain state and function (e.g., MRI, EEG, clinical examination, fMRI) can differ profoundly in their assessment of consciousness.
3) It demonstrates that an indirect assessment of brain function (fMRI, which measures regional blood flow and brain metabolism), may reveal evidence for consciousness when more direct methods (clinical examination, EEG) fail to detect consciousness...............................
Proving Dr. Novella Wrong: Enjoying Tennis in a Persistent Vegetative State
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He is looking to tiptoe quietly out the back door and into the shadows before anyone notices, I bet. Not so fast there, Georgie Porgie, some of us remember and will not forget.
Well, here is an excerpt and I recommend going to the link.
Three years later, the death threats have tapered off. No one in Congress has called him a murderer of late. To the best of his knowledge, the current governor of Florida isn't mad at him.
~Snip~
His transfer from probate/guardianship court to family court should allow Greer, 65, to serve the next three years in peaceful obscurity before his planned retirement.
Nothing compares to the literal loss of a life that occurred at the end of the five-year Terri Schiavo struggle in Greer's court, but divorce cases are, in their own terrible ways, rife with life and death issues............
Terry Schiavo judge handles divorce cases
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