Special Ethical Issues in the Management of PVS Patients

Abstract

The patient in a persistent vegetative state (hereafter, the PVS patient) has played a central role in recent American bioethical discussions and in recent litigation involving bioethical issues. From Quinlan’ to Cruzan and Wanglie, some of the most important cases involving ethical issues at the end of life have involved PVS patients. Major American medical groups such as the AMA and the American Academy of Neurology have adopted important policy statements on the care of such patients, statements that have been followed by at least one European group.I have always found this activity a bit of a mystery. There is, after all, a relatively clear consensus about decision-making at the end of life, a consensus embodied in such documents as a report from the President's Commission and a report from the Hastings Center.