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Into the gray zone : a neuroscientist explores the border between life and death / Adrian Owen.

by Owen, Adrian M.

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Scribner, 2017.

Persistent vegetative state.

Persistent vegetative state -- Moral and ethical aspects.

Brain damage -- Patients.

9781501135200 (hc.)

First Scribner hardcover edition.

xi, 304 pages ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-281) and index.

The ghost that haunts me -- First contact -- The unit -- Half-life -- Scaffolds of consciousness -- Psychobabble -- The world as will -- Tennis, anyone? -- Yes and no -- Are you in pain? -- Live or let die? -- Alfred Hitchcock presents -- Back from the dead -- Take me home -- Reading minds.

"A neuroscientist reveals his work with patients whose brains were previously thought vegetative or non-responsive but turn out, in up to 20 percent of cases, to be vibrantly alive, existing in the "Gray Zone." The humbling frontier in our understanding of the brain: the so-called gray zone between full consciousness and brain death. People in this middle place have sustained traumatic brain injuries or are the victims of stroke or degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Many are oblivious to the outside world, and their doctors believe they are incapable of thought. But a sizeable number are experiencing something different: intact minds adrift deep within damaged brains and bodies. What is life like for these patients? What can their families and friends do to help them? What are the ethical implications for religious organizations, politicians, the Right to Die movement, and even insurers? In defining what a life worth living is, are we too concerned with the physical and not giving enough emphasis to the power of thought? Adrian Owen is currently the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and imaging at The Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, Canada. Visit his website at OwenLab.uwo.ca"--Provided by publisher.

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