A few people live for several years. There have been reports of people regaining some awareness after spending years in what appears to be in a vegetative state or coma. These reports often involve people who had been in a minimally conscious state, usually after a head injury.
Any recovery from a vegetative state is unlikely after 1 month if the cause was anything other than a head injury. If the cause was a head injury, recovery is unlikely after 12 months. However, a few people improve over a period of months or years.
Recovery. Most of the people who spoke to us had relatives who remained in a vegetative or minimally conscious state (or died without ever regaining full consciousness). In some cases, though, the patient regained full consciousness.
In post-traumatic vegetative states (where unconsciousness lasts for more than 28 days) 38, 67, and 78% of patients regain consciousness at 3, 6, and 12 months, respectively. In non-traumatic vegetative states, 17 and 7.5% of patients regain consciousness at 6 and 24 months, respectively.
Other studies have shown that up to 20 percent of patients in various vegetative states can hear and respond on at least some level. But at least some of the responses seen could be dismissed as simple reflexes, or at best akin to someone in a dream state responding to stimuli.
Annie Shapiro (1913–2003) was a Canadian apron shop owner who was in a coma for 29 years because of a massive stroke and suddenly awakened in 1992. Apart from the patients in the true story Awakenings, Shapiro was the longest a person has been in a coma like state and woken up.
Such persons may be able to communicate with, for example, eye blinking. Life expectancy in the persistent VS. Early research8 suggested that life expectancy in this condition was 2-5 years, with survival for 10 years being uncommon. More recent work suggests a somewhat better prognosis for survival.
experience regular sleep-wake cycles. move their limbs, though purely as reflex (PVS patients can't hold their limbs nor move them on command.)
And when is the right time to unplug the outlet? If doctors believe there is little or no chance of recovery, family and loved ones can apply for a court order to remove the patient from life support (which is not necessary if the patient or someone with power of attorney has signed a DNR order).
Most people with a persistent vegetative state do not recover any mental function or ability to interact with the environment in a meaningful way. However, a few people with a persistent vegetative state improve enough that the diagnosis is changed to minimally conscious state.
Patients in the vegetative state are said to be unaware and to lack the cortical capacity to feel pain (Multi-Society Task Force on PVS, 1994).
Their eyes may also randomly wander or track moving objects, and their breathing and heart rate are able to keep their body going without the assistance of machines. Other actions such as swallowing, smiling, and tearing up as well as groaning, grunting, or screaming are all common in vegetative states too.
The Terri Schiavo case was a series of court and legislative actions in the United States from 1998 to 2005, regarding the care of Theresa Marie Schiavo (born Schindler) (/ˈʃaɪvoʊ/; December 3, 1963 – March 31, 2005), a woman in an irreversible persistent vegetative state.
In some cases, it may be that the family believe that the patient would have wanted ongoing treatment regardless of their level of consciousness or prognosis. Alternatively, some family members may be hoping for a “miracle” recovery or are simply not yet ready to let go of a loved one.
There is no rule about how long a person can stay on life support. People getting life support may continue to use it until they either recover or their condition worsens.
They have found that some patients in a vegetative state can perform complex cognitive tasks on command, like imagining a physical activity such as playing tennis, or, in one case, even answering yes-or-no questions.
A state of complete unconsciousness with no eye-opening is called coma. A state of complete unconsciousness with some eye-opening and periods of wakefulness and sleep is called the vegetative state (VS). This refers to the “vegetative functions” of the brain (regulating body temperature, breathing, etc.)
The word coma usually refers to the state in which a person appears to be asleep but cannot be awakened. Persistent vegetative state refers to another form of altered consciousness in which the person appears to be awake but does not respond meaningfully to the outside world.
Munira Abdulla suffered a severe brain injury a car crash in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1991 – when she was 32. For years there were no signs she would ever wake up. But in 2017, she was transferred to Germany and treated with physical therapies and drugs – then last year started to show signs of responsiveness.
When a plant has enough leaves for photosynthesis and roots for anchoring, storage, and uptake of minerals then grazing and mowing management can be considered. The late vegetative stage is a valuable phase for harvesting forage.
Dubbed the "sleeping beauty," Esposito stayed in a coma for 37 years and 111 days before succumbing in 1978 — the longest-ever coma, according to Guinness World Records.
Elaine Esposito (December 3, 1934 – November 25, 1978) held the record for the longest period of time in a coma according to Guinness World Records, having lost consciousness in 1941 and eventually dying in that condition more than 37 years later.
“In a persistent vegetative state, your organs still work, and your fertility is still there,” she said. The risks in such cases would be poor fetal growth as well as all the usual risks of pregnancy found in healthy women, including diabetes and hypertension.
Generally, adults have about a 50 percent chance and children a 60 percent chance of recovering consciousness from VS/UWS within the first 6 months in the case of traumatic brain injury. For non-traumatic injuries such as strokes, the recovery rate falls within the first year.