Scientists Claim Coma Victims May Still Be Awake

Greg Tito

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Sep 29, 2005
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Scientists Claim Coma Victims May Still Be Awake



Scientists in the U.K. used real-time MRIs to communicate with patients previously thought to be in a completely vegetative state.

The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology, which provides a picture of brain activity in real time. Patients were asked to think a certain way in response to questions about their life. Using this technique, one study published in the New England Journal of Medicine claimed that it was possible to communicate with 4 patients out of 23 who were diagnosed to be in a vegetative state.

We've all heard horrible stories of people in car accidents, or otherwise seriously brain damaged, who enter a coma. They are effectively asleep, and can last that way for several weeks and sometimes years. It's possible, however, for such a patient to advance to a vegetative state, which is only slightly more awake. Their bodies still function enough to maintain life, but they are completely unresponsive to stimuli because of the severe damage to their brains.

The researchers have shown that at least some of these people are aware of their surroundings enough to communicate. When asked questions, the patients were told to think about playing tennis, which stimulates the motor cortex if they wanted to answer "yes" and to imagine a spatial activity, like walking on the street, in order to answer "no."

While the implications of this study are far-reaching and can impact the ethics of euthanasia, as well as open the doors to more research into how our brain functions, I had a much more visceral response.

This study implies that these people are awake and trapped in their dysfunctional bodies.

It's kind of like the video for Johnny Got His Gun [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzgGTTtR0kc]. "If I had arms, I could kill myself. If I had legs, I could run away."

Shudder.

Source: BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8497148.stm]

(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenhampshire/3228537399/])

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ma55ter_fett

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Oct 6, 2009
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I saw this in the new york times this morning, it's quite disterbing.

How crazy would you be when they could finally wake you up?
 

TheNumber1Zero

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Jul 23, 2009
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Well, that sounds just horrible. Being concious of ones surroundings and being unable to move. I would rather be asleep than that.

Still interesting to know though.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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Fascinating stuff.

It does bring in the idea of using MRI's to communicate with sentience other than adults though, and once we do that, can electronic telepathy be far off?

As well as it having very significant rammifications on all sorts of childhood back to the womb.
 

Sayvara

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Oct 11, 2007
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Greg Tito said:
This study has proven that these people are awake and trapped in their dysfunctional bodies.
Eh, no, it hasn't. As usual, the masses of the public begin to wildly misinterpret what has actually been said in the research, eagery throwing themselves down the slippery slope, in this case for the perverse pleasure of creating a real life horror story.

What we have so far is that a scan showed activity. What this activity is, what causes it, and if it has any bearing at all to the questions or if it is actual awareness or something else, is not yet determined.

Still, people are jumping at a shot at this creating a nightmare about fully aware people trapped inside non-functioning bodies.

This insane desire to see people in a vegetative state as fully aware has created some horrifying cases of abuse of people who cannot speak for themselves. Here is one terrible example of abusing a person to make media headlines. Before you watch this video, turn off the sound and just watch it... don't listen or read the text the first time around... just watch.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/975121/belgian-coma-man-was-just-awake-for-23-years

Fraud-buster James Randi has replied:

http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/783-this-cruel-farce-has-to-stop.html

Seriously... what the heck is wrong with people? Why are you so utterly eager to chase horror stories?

/S, upset
 

Babrook

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Oct 22, 2005
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Not sure what would be worse, being 'awake' in a coma, or waking up midway through surgery.

Either way, scary stuff.
 

SharedProphet

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Oct 9, 2008
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Interesting.

Bit of a tangent, but I think the phrase "Scientists Prove Coma Victims May Still Be Awake" is funny.
 

IrrelevantTangent

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Oct 4, 2008
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Good God...well, the implications of this are certainly unpleasant, if this turns out to be true. Emphasis on 'if.' We don't know all the facts yet.

Honestly, I never thought I'd say this, but maybe the coma victims would be better off unconscious all that time. Being awake for all that time and unable to move...And I Must Scream, [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AndIMustScream] anyone?
 

Dyp100

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Jul 14, 2009
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'Johnny' Is about someone without sensory output or input, not in a coma, but still, this is kinda saddening for the person, have to be all alone as well, maybe now we know this it might help people find out for there loved ones.

Also, cool picture for the post.
 

Bladecatcher

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Sep 1, 2009
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SharedProphet said:
Bit of a tangent, but I think the phrase "Scientists Prove Coma Victims May Still Be Awake" is funny.
Good point. You do use the phrase "prove" a lot but as any scientist will tell you, one test hardly proves anything, especially one as objective as this.
 

cptmc

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Feb 7, 2009
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Interesting. I'm not sure I'm convinced it's proven anything. Though I think it has demonstrated more towards Kant's idea that the mental world is dependent on the physical world and not the other way around like Descartes believed. Practically speaking, though, I think they are codependent.

btw, it's Johnny Got His Gun.
 

Sayvara

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Oct 11, 2007
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Bladecatcher said:
SharedProphet said:
Bit of a tangent, but I think the phrase "Scientists Prove Coma Victims May Still Be Awake" is funny.
Good point. You do use the phrase "prove" a lot but as any scientist will tell you, one test hardly proves anything, especially one as objective as this.
Exactly. In the black & white world of non-scientists, a correlation is causation... an indication is "proof"... and when someone calling him/herself a "scientist" has claimed something, it is suddenly universal truth.

This has created a large number of modern paranoias and myths, such as the idiotic notion that water has "memory", the stupid fear that vaccines are dangerous, or the physical impossibility that cell phones cause cancer.

And here we see it again... the same kind of eagerness to take one reading and running off on a tangent 'til they poke an alien in the next galaxy over in the bum with it.

Stop it... for the love of your sanity, STOP. Don't read things into statements that aren't there just because it's something you want to see.

/S
 

Sir Kemper

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Jan 21, 2010
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I belive the quote: "I have no mouth and i must scream" is also appropriate in this case...
 

Outlaw Torn

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Dec 24, 2008
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MRI machines are so much fun, if I had a few million pounds spare I'd get a few to play with. They're strangely comfortable too.
 

Abedeus

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Sep 14, 2008
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Outlaw Torn said:
MRI machines are so much fun, if I had a few million pounds spare I'd get a few to play with. They're strangely comfortable too.
They are also much more effective lie detectors. Showing parts of brains that work only when telling the truth (for instance, when someone uses parts that we use to create fiction - he's lying), they are a lot better than those crappy machines that register changes in blood pressure and pulse.


Also, if someone was in a vegetative state and he woke up... how many would drive few hundred miles to eat a sandwich?