“As many as 15 to 20 percent of patients who appear to be in a coma or other unresponsive state show these inner signs of awareness when evaluated with advanced brain-imaging methods or sophisticated monitoring of electrical activity.”
Maria Mazurkevich couldn’t move a finger, but her EEG changed when doctors told her to open and close her hand. Up to one in five “unresponsive” patients show the same hidden awareness. Families usually decide whether to stop life support within 10 to 14 days. A bedside exam that misses one patient in five is a bad basis for that call.