Abstract
This review provides an ethical analysis of disorders of consciousness (DoC) along
the care continuum, from preinjury to injury, acute care to subacute care and early
rehabilitation, and finally transitioning to chronic rehabilitation and societal reintegration.
We provide an actionable, chronological assessment of ethical issues related to DoC
care. This expands upon established ethics literature, which focuses almost exclusively
on the clinical encounter for DoC. Our goal is to broaden the aperture of ethical
analysis to address how social and environmental conditions predispose some persons
to brain injury, and how such conditions might also pose barriers to meaningful societal
reintegration after recovery.
Keywords
disorders of consciousness coma - minimally conscious state brain injury - vegetative
state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome - neuroethics