Cindy Province R.N., M.S.N.
Contact: cindypro@mo.net
PVS is not easily diagnosed. Although accepted signs of PVS include the absence of awareness of self or environment, we can only measure such things as behavior and movement, not "thought" or "awareness".
Date posted: 2004-07-24
This is an excellent overview of the most under-reported part of the Rome conference. Last month, 400 people from 46 countries met in Rome, Italy to focus on one of the quintessential bioethics problems of our day - the patient in the Persistent Vegetative State (PVS). Few human diseases or disabilities generate more confusion and dread than does the condition of the PVS. Health professionals who care for patients in PVS have called this "the ultimate curse".
Date posted: 2004-05-16
Few human diseases or disabilities generate more confusion and dread than does the condition commonly called the persistent vegetative state (PVS). The term "Persistent Vegetative State" has come to be used generically and often inappropriately. It could reasonably be said that the term itself, taken in the commonly understood sense of the term "vegetable", is dehumanizing as well as biologically nonsensical. A human can no more quot;becomequot; a vegetable than a vegetable can "become" a human being.
Date posted: 2003-04-13