"I was absolutely stunned," said Adrian M. Owen, a British neurologist who led the team reporting the case in today's issue of the journal Science. "We had no idea whether she would understand our instructions. But this showed that she is aware."
Another doctor pronounced himself "shocked." Shocked? Why should it be shocking to learn something new in a field we admit we don't know much about? Isn't the whole premise of scientific inquiry that you discover new things all the time? Ibsen's Doctor (see previous post) proclaims excitedly that no idea lasts longer than 20 years, and yet it's typical in science and medicine to find arrogance and certainty and clinging to outdated paradigms.
the researchers said it could force a rethinking of how medicine evaluates
brain-damaged patients.
It breaks my heart all over again to think of Terri Schiavo thirsting to death under the watchful eye of the state because experts were "certain" she was already dead. That kind of certainty ain't scientific, it's arrogance calling itself science. (Which reminds me to point out this Nat Hentoff column about Michael Schiavo campaigning against Lieberman in CT.)
While we're at it, here's an update on Haleigh Poutre, the little girl diagnosed as PVS and whom the MA Supreme Court ruled could have nutrition and hydration removed. A year later she's responsive and even speaking a few words.
