Moral conflict in the minimally conscious state

After severe traumatic or anoxic brain injury, some patients enter into the minimally conscious state (MCS). MCS patients evince awareness of self and environment by way of inconsistent but discernibly purposeful behaviors-for example, visual fixation and pursuit, command following, and intelligible...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Shepherd, J.
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 2016, 2016
Online Access:
Collection: National Center for Biotechnology Information - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
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245 0 0 |a Moral conflict in the minimally conscious state  |h Elektronische Ressource  |c Joshua Shepherd 
260 |a Oxford  |b Oxford University Press  |c 2016, 2016 
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740 0 2 |a Finding consciousness 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
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500 |a Chapter 10 of the book: Finding consciousness : the neuroscience, ethics, and law of severe brain damage. New York : Oxford University Press, 2016 
773 0 |t Finding consciousness 
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520 |a After severe traumatic or anoxic brain injury, some patients enter into the minimally conscious state (MCS). MCS patients evince awareness of self and environment by way of inconsistent but discernibly purposeful behaviors-for example, visual fixation and pursuit, command following, and intelligible verbalization (Giacino et al., 2002). According to most, these behaviors are indicative of at least minimal conscious mental life: MCS patients are thought to possess consciousness. Further, by virtue of possessing consciousness, MCS patients are thought to possess a type of moral significance not attributed to patients who lack consciousness (e.g., patients in the vegetative state). How ought this inform decision making regarding MCS patients?