The Scientific American Mind article “Freeing a Locked-In Mind” by Karen Schrock focuses on technological advancements that have revealed that vegetative patients may be able to communicate with the outside world. “Locked-in” minds refer to minds that are trapped in bodies that no longer respond to their mental control. In the fall of 2006 researchers in Britain announced that they were able to successfully image the brain of one of their vegetative patients and found that the patient was conscious and aware. According to lead researcher, Adrian Owen of the University of Cambridge, “We are now able to detect when somebody is consciously aware, when existing clinical methods have been unable to provide that information.” This new technology will allow patients to communicate without having to say or do anything. This “new technology” is the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that shows which areas of the brain have the most activity during thought processing. FMRI imaging has been the first imaging technique to “look at the inner cognitive workings of patients who have disorders of consciousness.”

This article went on to discuss how cases like Terri Schiavo’s and many others can not easily improve, however, brain-damage prognosis is not always cut and dry. This is why this new technology will allow doctors to determine how much brain function a person has left thereby making a clear distinction between the three categories of consciousness: coma, vegetative, and minimally conscious. The fMRI has advanced over the last couple years so that researchers are capable of interpreting the data in 30 to 40 seconds compared to months. With this advancement “locked-in” patients will be able to “speak” with their own mind despite being verbally unresponsive. The researchers have been able to learn how to tell apart thought-only responses of “yes” or “no” in under a minute due to different thoughts activating various areas of the brain.

I chose this article because this past week in my comparative religious ethics course we discussed physician assisted suicide and forgoing treatment for patients. One of the cases we discussed was Terri Schiavo’s, which took place back in 2005. A political debate ensued when her parents challenged her husband’s decision to remove her feeding tube and allowed her to die. The doctors did not think she would recover and sided with her husband. From reading this article, if fMRI imaging was available then as it is now maybe Terri’s case would have turned out differently. It seems that there will be a future for patients in vegetative and comatose states. This article was extremely enjoyable and interesting to read. Definitely check it out!!!

Info on Terri Schiavo: http://www.terrisfight.org/mainlinks.php?table=main_terri_story&id=141