The Grim Reaper
In this motionless body, behind that glazing eye, and with all the appearance of death, sensitiveness and intelligence persist in their entirety. The corpse before us hears and distinguishes all that is done around it. It suffers when pinched or irritated, in a word, it has still consciousness and volition, but it has lost the instruments which serve to manifest them. Claude Bernard, 1864 quoted in ANESTHETIZING THE PUBLIC CONSCIENCE: LETHAL INJECTION AND ANIMAL EUTHANASIA in BERDOE, supra note 29, at 63 (quoting Bernard) by Edward Berdoe “Locked-In Syndrome” is a neurologic condition resulting from a catastrophic brain stem injury that leaves the cerebral cortex functional. A patient with Locked-in Syndrome is fully conscious and able to feel pain , but almost completely unable to move. This is different from a persistent vegetative state or a minimally conscious state. At bedside a locked-in patient is indistinguishable from a corpse on life support. In recognized cases t...