The lights are on

...but they're tied up and gagged, in the basement...

While one would hope Houben was the unlucky winner of a terrifying medical lottery, situations like his may not be rare. Neurologist Steven Laureys, who performed the revealing brain scan on Houben, says that in 40 percent of supposedly vegetative patients he examined, brain scans revealed some level of consciousness. Both Houben and Laureys are advocating that doctors lean less on the Glasgow Scale and look more toward brain scans.

In a healthcare bureaucracy that wants to use rationingto alleviate healthcare costs, and embraces the concept of euthanizing the disabled, does anyone believe doctors will be encouraged to engage in a procedure where people in "vegetative" states are identified and rescued more frequently?

Comments

[epador]

Before jumping on the bandwagon, peruse this debunking:

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/11/coma_man_dr_steven_laureys_just_doesnt_g.php