Persistent vegetative state: what decides the cut-off point?

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Advances in medicine and technology have allowed us early and effective diagnosis and treatment of many disease processes, with new and developing interventions ensuring this progression. However, in some illnesses and conditions, despite appropriate treatment, deterioration in the person's condition ensues. This may occur following a cardiopulmonary arrest, where resuscitation may have been 'successful' at the time, but the brain has suffered irreversible anoxic damage. It has been seen that only 10-25% of patients survive to discharge following a cardiac arrest (Broadway 1993), and the consequences of cardiopulmonary resuscitation can not only be costly but can leave the patient in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). PVS, however, does not confine itself to these patients alone, and can present following other cerebral traumas, including head injuries. This is therefore especially pertinent to intensive care nurses, who may find themselves caring for such patients in a critical care setting. Growing public awareness of this altered health state due, for instance, to the Tony Bland case in the UK in 1993, has highlighted a need for greater knowledge of the consequences of the condition and the proposed management of patients in PVS. This paper attempts to describe the course of this syndrome, and considers some of the ethical and moral issues surrounding the care and treatment of patients with PVS. The issues surrounding euthanasia are briefly explored together with the attitudes of those caring for these patients.