Perception of Value and the Minimally Conscious State

The "disability paradox" is the idea that for those who become severely disabled, their own quality of life (QoL) assessment remains at or slightly below the QoL assessments of normal controls. This is a source of skepticism regarding third-person QoL judgments of the disabled. I argue here that this skepticism applies as well to those who are in the minimally conscious state (MCS). For rather simple means of sustaining an MCS patient's life (for example, tube feeding), the cost of being wrong that the patient would not want further support is high. Pair this cost with the reason to be skeptical of third-person judgments, and my argument suggests not withholding food and water from MCS patients.