Tag: vagus nerve stimulation

Coma victims, PVS patients, and “waking the dead”

By Xavier Symons A 35-year-old man who had been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years after a car accident has shown signs of consciousness after neurosurgeons implanted a nerve stimulator into his chest. The findings, reported this week in the journal Current Biology, suggest that “vagus nerve stimulation” (VNS)—a treatment already in use for …

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Persistently unconscious patient awakened after receiving pioneering therapy

By Wesley Smith Ever since Terri Schiavo, writing about the wrongness of removing feeding tubes from patients diagnosed with persistent unconsciousness (PVS)–we should never call them “vegetables,” a term as denigrating and dehumanizing a racial epithet–is like spitting in the wind. But, what the heck. As mentioned above, such patients are often dehydrated to death …

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