Reply #45: I definately agree that there is reaction there

[kayell]

I didn't see the piano video, as the server was overloaded, but watched the others. I saw a definate struggle going on to open her eyes, and then a sense of success?, certainly something as she managed to open them very wide. This woman is clearly reacting to the world around her, albeit in a limited way. But she reacts, she even appears pleased or annoyed. She shows emotion. Since there is no written living will stating that she does not want to be maintained in this particular condition, I have to conclude that it would be murder to continue withholding food and water.

With all due respect to the doctors, until a fairly recent time, it was thought medically impossible for stroke victims to regain abilities governed by brain areas that had died. We now know that other areas can take over, especially if the right therapy is provided. It was also believed impossible to regrow brain cells until 1999, when scientists from Princeton that new nerve cells are continually added to the cerebral cortex, the largest and most advanced part of the brain. http://www.brainlightning.com/regen.html

It appears to me that this woman must either have ENOUGH cerebral cortex left to allow her the reactions and obvious emotions that she is showing, or some other part is taking over some of that function.

Part of good science is realizing how much there still is to discover.