Yeah, About Your Vegetative Relative You Took Off Life Support?
From The Scotsman:
"Scientists have reached into the shuttered world of a "lost" brain-damaged patient and communicated with him via his thoughts. The 29-year-old Belgian was able to answer "yes" and "no" to questions by conjuring up imaginary scenes while having his brain scanned.Before the extraordinary experiment, the man, who suffered a severe head injury in a road accident in 2003, had shown no sign of being aware of the outside world.
Five years ago, he was presumed to have slipped from a coma to a vegetative state, leaving his body functioning but his personality and consciousness wiped out.
The British and Belgian researchers now know that the diagnosis was wrong. The man was able to respond to questions about his life as scientists monitored activity in his brain.
They admitted to being "astonished" by the result, which has enormous implications for the care and treatment of vegetative patients."