"It's quite distressing...to realize this."

Remember Terri Shiavo? I think most American's have at least heard of her. She was the lady who had been comotose for a number of years, diagnosed as being in a "permanent vegetative state." Her husband sued to have her life-support removed. Eventually he won, her life-support was removed and she starved to death.

I was blogging a lot back then on various cultural issues and I did my share about Terri and the decision to allow her to die. I was opposed then based on the belief that human life is sacred and that God will take of it as He wills not as we wish.

Well now comes a study which indicates that I may have been right. The Washington Post has an article that indicates the "vegetative state" diagnosis may not be applicable to all people alike.

...an international team of scientists decided to try a bold experiment using the latest technology to peek inside the minds of 54 patients to see whether, in fact, they were conscious.

One by one, the men and women were placed inside advanced brain scanners as technicians gave them careful instructions: Imagine you are playing tennis. Imagine you are exploring your home, room by room. For most, the scanner showed nothing.

But, shockingly, for one, then another, and another, and yet two more, the scans flashed exactly like any healthy conscious person's would. These patients, the images clearly indicated, were living silently in their bodies, their minds apparently active. One man could even flawlessly answer detailed yes-or-no questions about his life before his trauma by activating different parts of his brain.

"It was incredible," said Adrian M. Owen, a neuroscientist at the Medical Research Council who led the groundbreaking research described in a paper published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine. "These are patients who are totally unable to perform functions with their bodies -- even blink an eye or move an eyebrow -- but yet are entirely conscious. It's quite distressing, really, to realize this."

Obviously nothing will help Terri Shiavo, she's dead, but at least now maybe people like her will not be murdered because they are inconvenient. Yes it is "...quite distressing...to realize this."