Vegetative State

A person suffering from this condition is seen to be awake and reflexive, but they are in reality not aware of themselves or their surroundings. They become inept to mental feelings and physical pain as well. This condition is caused due to a harsh injury occurring in the brain where the personality and thought functions are controlled.

The condition does not have any particular treatment to prevent it from happening, but in some cases, the patients do make recoveries in time. But those who do recover ma still have mental and physical deficiencies in most cases, having undergone a permanent damage to the brain.

The patient goes into a persistent vegetative state after one month, and if it carries on for a year, it becomes a permanent state. The longer one stays in the condition, the tougher it becomes to get them out of it. In some cases, the patient may be taken off treatment if it’s sure that recover is not possible.

Symptoms of vegetative state

A person with this condition appears to be wide awake and have consciousness of their surroundings, and even have the eyes open. However, they in fact are not aware of anything going on around them. They do not interact with people around, and will not respond to things being said or done around them. They wont be able to eat, and nor will they have control on their bowels and bladder.

Causes of vegetative state

The main cause for this condition is any sort of damage to the upper brain of the human being. This part of the brain is what controls all the cognitive functions of the person like movement, speech, thought etc. the term cognitive itself means to learn and to think. The non-cognitive functions are controlled by the lower brain. In vegetative state, the persons upper brain does not function, thus losing the thought process, but the lower part continues to work. This is the reason why they are still able to breathe and exist.

Main reasons for brain damage are: less oxygen supply to the brain, brain illnesses, a stroke, brain tumours, and nervous system abnormalities.

Treating vegetative state

There is no treatment that can reverse the vegetative state or prevent it from occurring. However, there are various cares given to make the patient comfortable. Some of them are:

• Feeding the person manually via a drip or intravenous tube through the nose.
• Taking care against infections like pneumonia.
• Regular physiotherapy to ensure the muscles doesn’t become rigid.
• Stimulate their minds by music or other forms of entertainment.
• Regular bathing to keep them fresh.
• A routine check on their sitting or lying positions.

Recovering from the vegetative state

The recover depends solely on the extent of brain damage that has been caused. If the state is by a trauma, then it is easier to cure as by slowly bringing the person out of the trauma. However, the longer time the person spends in coma, the tougher it becomes to have an effective recovery.

The recovery process is very slow as the patient has to be very gradually brought out from the state. In cases where there is no hope whatsoever of recover, the patient may be taken off treatment once a court order is granted.