PHIL 242 Study Guide - Final Guide: Dementia, Do Not Resuscitate, Advance Healthcare Directive
Document Summary
Coma: looks like sleep all the time; no reactions; no movement; no wakefulness. Persistent vegetative state (pvs): regular waking/sleeping cycles; no awareness; no purposeful responses; no interaction with environment (though may smile, grimace, moan reflexively). Pvs is often diagnosed after 4 weeks of a vegetative state, though 6 mos-1 year of pvs make reversibility unlikely. Minimally conscious state: regular waking/sleeping cycles; minimal levels of awareness; consistent enough deliberate behavior to be distinguished from purely reflexive responses. Functional mri shows response to own name spoken, communication is often difficult; competency unclear. (example: wendland) Locked-in syndrome: regular waking/sleeping cycles; full conscious awareness; complete paralysis of voluntary muscles (due to brain stem lesion; often the result of stroke). Communication is difficult, but sometimes possible (example: jean-dominique bauby, the. French journalist who wrote the diving bell and the butterfly by dictating it one letter at a time).
