Commonly, when coma lasts for a month or more, the individual's eyes may be open and may blink even though the person's stare is vacant, no purposeful responses occur, and no signs of awareness appear. This term was developed by Drs. Brian Jennett and Fred Plum, an outstanding neurosurgeon and a well recognized neurologist respectively. The intent was to describe a condition in which the vegetative or anatomic functions, such as breathing, maintaining a normal blood pressure, digesting and eliminating foods were maintained and would persist indefinitely in the absence of awareness. Unfortunately, the term has become horribly misused and has been a sentence to death for many, aside from another devastating misinterpretation by most nonprofessionals.
All human dignity is destroyed.
The end result is a slow death by infection or even by slow starvation, often in individuals who may have full awareness despite appearances to the contrary. Compounding the devastating sentence, many physicians do not even wait a full month to assign their verdict, despite the recommendation of Drs. Jennett and Plum, originators of the term PVS, to wait three months before making a determination. Many physicians will solemnly announce to a family two or three days after onset of coma that their loved one is in a persistent vegetative state and declare unambiguously that nothing can be done, adding insult to injury and preventing treatment at the most treatable stage. Only brain death is untreatable in the spectrum of brain functions.