Mythology of the Vegetative State

Vegetative state (VS; also known as unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, UWS) is a mysterious condition: wakefulness, but no subjective awareness. Thus, it is not surprising that a lot of myths have been created around this state. In the present talk, three classes of these myths are analyzed:

1. Antique myths that have an historical value, but nobody believes in them any more:

   • a. VS patients are decorticized either in the morphological or in the functional sense.

2. Myths of an average age, which still live in the brains of relevant persons, although they have already been refused by modern data:

   • a. Cortical processing in VS happens only in the primary cortical areas.

   • b. All VS patients are similar and remain in the same functional state all the time.

   • c. There is a clear qualitative borderline between VS and the minimally conscious state.

   • d. After 1 year, a VS is “permanent.”

3. Modern myths, which have only appeared in the recent time due to the modern technologies and novel data (more exactly, due to the false interpretation of the novel data):

   • a. Awareness can be operationally defined as the ability to follow verbal instructions.

   • b. Modern methods of neuroscience permit us to observe consciousness directly in a patient’s brain.