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Functional neuroimaging and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from vegetative patients

Recent studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging of patients in a vegetative state have raised the possibility that such patients retain some degree of consciousness. In this paper, the ethical implications of such findings are outlined, in particular in relation to decisions about withdra...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wilkinson, D J, Kahane, G, Horne, M, Savulescu, J
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2711351/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19644010
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jme.2008.029165
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author Wilkinson, D J
Kahane, G
Horne, M
Savulescu, J
author_facet Wilkinson, D J
Kahane, G
Horne, M
Savulescu, J
author_sort Wilkinson, D J
collection PubMed
description Recent studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging of patients in a vegetative state have raised the possibility that such patients retain some degree of consciousness. In this paper, the ethical implications of such findings are outlined, in particular in relation to decisions about withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. It is sometimes assumed that if there is evidence of consciousness, treatment should not be withdrawn. But, paradoxically, the discovery of consciousness in very severely brain-damaged patients may provide more reason to let them die. Although functional neuroimaging is likely to play an increasing role in the assessment of patients in a vegetative state, caution is needed in the interpretation of neuroimaging findings.
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spelling pubmed-27113512009-07-23 Functional neuroimaging and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from vegetative patients Wilkinson, D J Kahane, G Horne, M Savulescu, J J Med Ethics Law, ethics and medicine Recent studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging of patients in a vegetative state have raised the possibility that such patients retain some degree of consciousness. In this paper, the ethical implications of such findings are outlined, in particular in relation to decisions about withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. It is sometimes assumed that if there is evidence of consciousness, treatment should not be withdrawn. But, paradoxically, the discovery of consciousness in very severely brain-damaged patients may provide more reason to let them die. Although functional neuroimaging is likely to play an increasing role in the assessment of patients in a vegetative state, caution is needed in the interpretation of neuroimaging findings. BMJ Publishing Group 2009-08 2009-07-23 /pmc/articles/PMC2711351/ /pubmed/19644010 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jme.2008.029165 Text en © Wilkinson et al 2009 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Law, ethics and medicine
Wilkinson, D J
Kahane, G
Horne, M
Savulescu, J
Functional neuroimaging and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from vegetative patients
title Functional neuroimaging and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from vegetative patients
title_full Functional neuroimaging and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from vegetative patients
title_fullStr Functional neuroimaging and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from vegetative patients
title_full_unstemmed Functional neuroimaging and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from vegetative patients
title_short Functional neuroimaging and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from vegetative patients
title_sort functional neuroimaging and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from vegetative patients
topic Law, ethics and medicine
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2711351/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19644010
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jme.2008.029165
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