Medical Miracles
This article describes how an off-label use of the medicine in the sleeping pill Ambien has allowed many patients supposedly in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) after injuries to their brains to speak, walk, and even carry on some more advanced physical activities like running and horseback riding.
The article is a wonderful example of the sometimes accidental benefits of modern pharmaceutical medicine, and should also serve as a caution to those who attack the supposed "greed" of the pharmaceutical industry...without which (the profit motive, that is), drugs like Ambien might never have been developed.
It should also serve as a reminder that we don't yet know everything about how the brain works, and that perhaps those who advocate terminating treatment and/or support for those diagnosed with PVS need to consider the morality and ethics of such a decision in the face of clear evidence that many people who appear to be completely unresponsive are nonetheless aware and retain cognitive ability.
But more than anything, the article is wonderful for its tales of families reunited with loved ones they thought lost forever. May more such reunions occur thanks to the work of these caregivers and researchers.
The article is a wonderful example of the sometimes accidental benefits of modern pharmaceutical medicine, and should also serve as a caution to those who attack the supposed "greed" of the pharmaceutical industry...without which (the profit motive, that is), drugs like Ambien might never have been developed.
It should also serve as a reminder that we don't yet know everything about how the brain works, and that perhaps those who advocate terminating treatment and/or support for those diagnosed with PVS need to consider the morality and ethics of such a decision in the face of clear evidence that many people who appear to be completely unresponsive are nonetheless aware and retain cognitive ability.
But more than anything, the article is wonderful for its tales of families reunited with loved ones they thought lost forever. May more such reunions occur thanks to the work of these caregivers and researchers.