The Science Journal Article in the September 8, 2006, edition of the Wall Street Journal dealt with some new discoveries being made about people who are in the vegetative state. This refers to the state someone is in when they can open their eyes and seem to be awake, but they in no way respond to external stimuli. They show no sign of being aware of themselves or of their surroundings. This was the technical state that Terri Schiavo was in when she was condemned to die by her husband and the judicial system. The medical teaching concerning the vegetative state is that the mind is gone and only the reflexes remain. This opinion is being called into question by this study.

A 23-year-old woman suffered serrious brain injury in a car accident in July of 2005. After being in a coma for some time, she opened her eyes and resumed a normal sleep-wake cycle. However, she remained in a vegetative state. She never responded to any sights or sounds and she never seemed to be aware of her own actions or surroundings. But when a team of scientists began to speak to her about different mental processes, they found that her brain registered activity in the regions connected with that action. For instance, they asked her to pretend that she was playing tennis and the region of the pre-motor cortex heavily involved in such mental playing became very active. When asked to walk through each room of her house, her parahippocampal gyrus, a region which generates spacial maps, became very active. These patterns were the same as that which is seen in healthy volunteers and they could not occur as automatic responses to suggestions. They require the purposeful high-level mental participation of the patient. "Her brain activity shows a clear level of intention," according to Steven Laureys of the University of Liege, Belgium.

Although this woman was the only one of about sixty patients to respond in this profound way, the door opened by her proves that we know little about those who fit the medical condition of the vegetative state. There is probably much more mental activity behind the blank stare than previously admitted by the scientific community. This also calls into question our willingness to euthanize such patients. This is likely another example of the silent scream. Moral ethics need to return to an honorable appreciation of the gift of life.