Vegetative state diagnosis often wrong, new studies show

Vegetative state diagnosis often wrong, new studies show

New studies demonstrate that doctors should be extremely cautious about diagnosing patients as being in a vegetative state and in limiting their expectations of improvement.

Research teams from Belgium reported about 40 percent of patients they studied were misdiagnosed as in a vegetative state, when they actually should have been diagnosed as in a minimally conscious state, according to a June 20 report on News-Medical.Net, an online medical news service.

Another Belgian team found about 25 percent of patients diagnosed in an acute vegetative state when they enter a hospital had a good opportunity to regain a considerable percentage of their faculties and as much as half would reacquire some level of consciousness.

A comparison with past studies demonstrated the incidence of misdiagnosis has not fallen in the last 15 years, News-Medical.Net reported.

“Of course, what really needs to be done is to reject the notion that people with severe brain injuries are somehow less ‘human’ or are not ‘persons.’ Unless and until we do that, people in these devastated states will not be safe,” said Wesley Smith, a pro-life bioethics specialist.

Researchers presented their findings on the misdiagnosis study at the European Neurological Society meeting June 16–20 in Rhodes, Greece. (BP)