An incredibly interesting article, thanks for sharing. I find it almost unimaginable that we're still here, when I read about the locked-in syndrome tests over a decade ago in my cognitive...
An incredibly interesting article, thanks for sharing.
I find it almost unimaginable that we're still here, when I read about the locked-in syndrome tests over a decade ago in my cognitive psychology book.
How do we know all of this, but there are no standard, regularly done tests for brain activity? I mean a first-level test like 'can the patient imagine playing tennis in an fmri scan'. I'm not someone who strays towards false hope, and I'm absolutely, 100% not someone who would think my 'belief' trumps science. But the fact is that there IS NO science - hard, factual science - that would certify e.g. Tabitha's husband is conclusively without consciousness.
On the other hand, with Terri Schavio, her husband said she did not want to be kept alive on tubes, and I think she should have been removed from them way earlier. But that's because I feel like that was more about keeping someone alive in a state they never would want to be in, regardless. Even if I was fully conscious, I would never want to try for the recovery. Relearning how to do everything, even if it was possible, never knowing what quality of life I'd end up having. I wouldn't want my husband to have to go through that either.
But Tabitha doesn't know what her husband would want, and it looks like she sees a lot more signs of life than Schavio's husband.
Difficult subject to think about, but very thought provoking.
I think the fact that first-level testing requires specialized and uncommon machinery might be part of why it's not done regularly. Though I do wish it was done more regularly after reading this....
I mean a first-level test like 'can the patient imagine playing tennis in an fmri scan'.
I think the fact that first-level testing requires specialized and uncommon machinery might be part of why it's not done regularly. Though I do wish it was done more regularly after reading this.
This article is honestly pretty nightmarish overall, between the horrors of people potentially being locked in their bodies and the medical neglect, and I regret that I chose to skim it last night before bed. I do wish that, if/when medical professionals DO confirm people can communicate through the fmri, they'd run it more than just one time to give people the option of death.
That anecdote about the researchers asking a patient if he wanted to die at the end of their study and getting an inconclusive answer was chilling. In part because of him likely realizing that he was essentially abandoned after that. I can't imagine the sheer agony of having a spot of hope that you can finally communicate, that maybe this can signal an end to this nightmare state, only for the last question to be asking if you want to die, and then being left alone potentially forever.
I mean... Of course he didn't have a clear yes/no answer, that must have caused all sorts of mental turmoil!! That's the sort of decision that fully conscious people capable of regular communication would need time to think over, let alone someone in that position. I really wish they'd go back and ask him again. Asking that question at the end is basically torture.
An incredibly interesting article, thanks for sharing.
I find it almost unimaginable that we're still here, when I read about the locked-in syndrome tests over a decade ago in my cognitive psychology book.
How do we know all of this, but there are no standard, regularly done tests for brain activity? I mean a first-level test like 'can the patient imagine playing tennis in an fmri scan'. I'm not someone who strays towards false hope, and I'm absolutely, 100% not someone who would think my 'belief' trumps science. But the fact is that there IS NO science - hard, factual science - that would certify e.g. Tabitha's husband is conclusively without consciousness.
On the other hand, with Terri Schavio, her husband said she did not want to be kept alive on tubes, and I think she should have been removed from them way earlier. But that's because I feel like that was more about keeping someone alive in a state they never would want to be in, regardless. Even if I was fully conscious, I would never want to try for the recovery. Relearning how to do everything, even if it was possible, never knowing what quality of life I'd end up having. I wouldn't want my husband to have to go through that either.
But Tabitha doesn't know what her husband would want, and it looks like she sees a lot more signs of life than Schavio's husband.
Difficult subject to think about, but very thought provoking.
I think the fact that first-level testing requires specialized and uncommon machinery might be part of why it's not done regularly. Though I do wish it was done more regularly after reading this.
This article is honestly pretty nightmarish overall, between the horrors of people potentially being locked in their bodies and the medical neglect, and I regret that I chose to skim it last night before bed. I do wish that, if/when medical professionals DO confirm people can communicate through the fmri, they'd run it more than just one time to give people the option of death.
That anecdote about the researchers asking a patient if he wanted to die at the end of their study and getting an inconclusive answer was chilling. In part because of him likely realizing that he was essentially abandoned after that. I can't imagine the sheer agony of having a spot of hope that you can finally communicate, that maybe this can signal an end to this nightmare state, only for the last question to be asking if you want to die, and then being left alone potentially forever.
I mean... Of course he didn't have a clear yes/no answer, that must have caused all sorts of mental turmoil!! That's the sort of decision that fully conscious people capable of regular communication would need time to think over, let alone someone in that position. I really wish they'd go back and ask him again. Asking that question at the end is basically torture.