A Canadian man who was believed to have been in a vegetative state for more than a decade, has been able to tell scientists that he is not in any pain.
It's the first time an uncommunicative, severely brain-injured patient has been able to give answers clinically relevant to their care.
Scott Routley, 39, was asked questions while having his brain activity scanned in an fMRI machine.
His doctor says the discovery means medical textbooks will need rewriting.
The potential, here, seems boundless: not only may such patients be given - in some sense - a say as to treatment or maintenance options (like whether they're cool with having feeding tubes or other life support withdrawn), but ultimately, it may provide a path toward reprogramming the brain to route around the heavily damaged area. One such patient was able to demonstrate that while in a persistent vegetative state, he was actively laying down new memories: when asked, he was able to answer affirmatively that his sister has a daughter - and the daughter was born after the car accident that disabled him.
At the very least, this is welcome news for the Democrat base.
Query: what effect, if any, will such findings exert upon the Democrat infatuation with abortion on demand?
