This is an example of one of the worst conditions ever. Parts of the brain that allow a person to move are damaged, but parts responsible for sensation and cognition still function to a degree. It can be hard to diagnose, but this fMRI stuff will probably make the diagnosis a lot easier. As far as the ethical stuff is concerned…we’re standing on the doorstep of a catastrophe in the healthcare system, directly related to rising costs. This condition is rare compared to the number of people who truly become vegetables because of less selective brain damage. I cared for armloads of them at St. Elsewhere.  It costs ungodly amounts of money to keep someone with either condition “alive.” Costs have to be cut somewhere. Metaphorically speaking, we either cut mammography for 40 year old mothers with early breast cancer, or we stop keeping vegetables “alive,” even if there is the off chance they have a spark of consciousness somewhere.

I side with the mothers.

I like this term. It seems inflammatory – I know. But it is an honest description of a necessary mechanism of any universal systems of healthcare. We can’t just shovel money at hopelesscases involving patents who are more than likely not even fully present. And at some point, any such system will have to assemble a group of qualified people – a panel – to investigate and determine what represents a “hopeless” or non-feasible case.
If your politics isn’t benefited by the word “death” you can play with the semantic. Call it Life Panels if you want. Let’s wrap it in numerous layers of ambiguous arbitrary catch-phrase description. Regardless, the necessity remains and the debate is valid. Not adding guidelines for the mechanism in a bill establishing universal healthcare changes nothing. Universal healthcare at our stage of medical technology requires death panels.