Conscious in a Vegetative State? A Critique of the PVS Concept

Having been originally introduced as a term to facilitate discussion of a specific group of patients regarded as entering a state of unawareness following coma, the 'Persistent Vegetative State' (PVS) has established itself as an apparently discrete medical condition with clear-cut implica...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McCullagh, Peter (Author)
Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands, 2005.
Series:International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, 23
Subjects:
Online Access:Full Text via HEAL-Link
Table of Contents:
  • History and Context of the Persistent Vegetative State
  • The Pathological Basis of Vegetative States
  • Authoritative Statements
  • Consciousness
  • Sentience
  • Electrophysiological and Imaging Studies of Patients in Vegetative States
  • An Analogy between Anaesthesia and Persistent Vegetative State
  • Diagnosis and Misdiagnosis of Vegetative States
  • Emergence from a Vegetative State
  • A Perspective of Disability
  • Positive Management or an Exercise in Futility?
  • Thirst
  • Withdrawal of Hydration and Nutrition from Patients in Vegetative States
  • Some Economic Considerations
  • Vegetative States in Court
  • Continuing Unresponsiveness in the Future.