The Rev. Dr Patrick Pullicino, a former NHS consultant neurologist who is now a priest, challenges the 'prolonged disorder of consciousness' euthanasia narrative
It seems to be a perverse trait of man to prey on the most vulnerable. The most recent target is those of us who lose consciousness. Severe brain injury such as trauma from a car crash or from a loss of blood flow to the brain from a heart attack often result in coma which may last months.
Severe brain injury often results in admission to an intensive care unit, and others taking decisions on whether the patient will improve, whether further treatment is futile or “in their interest”. If a person does not open their eyes or respond when we repeatedly try to rouse them, it is easy for the untrained to infer that the person has no brain activity and to start to classify them as effectively “brain dead”.
