In a European survey, 66 percent of health - care professionals said they thought it was permissible to remove a feeding tube from someone who had been in a vegetative state for more than a year, but only 28 percent felt that way for patients who were minimally conscious. (discovermagazine.com)
It also suggests that some patients diagnosed as being in a vegetative state (VS) are in fact minimally conscious (MCS). (newscientist.com)
In 2005, just as the deep brain stimulation patient was making his first forays into awareness, the fate of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who had been in a vegetative state since 1990, sparked an ideological war. (discovermagazine.com)