$1EBEN HARRELL/LIEGE; ON SUNDAY, AUG. 9, 2009, VALENTINE Filipov, a handsome and energetic manager at a refrigeration factory in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria, decided to change a burned-out lamp in his garden. His daughter Anna refers to what happened next as "my father's ridiculous accident." Filipov lost his balance on the 3-ft. (0.9 m) stepladder and fell, hitting his head on the pavement. The blow put him in a coma for five days. When he opened his eyes, doctors determined that the damage he sustained had left him in a vegetative state, a condition defined by unresponsive wakefulness, in which patients follow a normal sleep-wake cycle, breathe without assistance and make reflexive movements such as swallowing, yawning, grunting and fidgeting but have
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