[Don't leave alone! Or maybe do? What it means to acknowledge vegetative patients as human subjects]

Acknowledging vegetative patients as subjects within the therapeutic and nursing practice requires a clarification of the terms of subject, person and autonomy. There are good reasons for using the terms person and human being synonymously, instead of making the person status of human beings dependent on their state of consciousness. Furthermore, the understanding that the body is the bearer of human personality and the medium of communication is of crucial importance. Like the human countenance, the human body as a whole has got a response structure, too. Hence, it can be argued that the mere presence of a comatose human alone, but also many nonverbal signals and reactions should be understood as a request for communication. How far signals and responses coming from the patient in individual cases can be interpreted as personal messages or as pure body reactions depends, however, very much on the interpretation.