Brain zap rouses people from years of vegetative state
From: New Scientist - 02/26/2014
By: Helen Thomson

People in a vegetative state showed signs of awareness after electric brain
stimulation - and minimally conscious people were able to communicate again

Talk about an awakening. People who have been in a minimally conscious state
for weeks or years have been temporarily roused using mild electrical
stimulation.

Soon after it was applied to their brains, 15 people with severe brain damage
showed signs of consciousness, including moving their hands or following
instructions using their eyes. Two people were even able to answer questions
for 2 hours before drifting back into their previous uncommunicative state.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129582.700-brain-zap-rouses-people-from-years-of-vegetative-state.html?full=true

Links:
Severe Traumatic Brain Injury 
http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/severe.html

How can you ensure that your life is worth living?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129581.600-how-can-you-ensure-that-your-life-is-worth-living.html

Decisions in Life
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/archive/2958/29582701.jpg

Deep brain stimulation promotes late functional recovery after traumatic brain injury
http://www.nature.com/nrneurol/journal/v3/n11/full/ncpneuro0624.html

Tristan Bekinschtein
http://www.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/directory/profile.php?trisbke