Bridging Matters of Uncertainty: The Importance of Focusing on “States in Between” for Disorders of Consciousness

摘要

Johnson and Lazaridis (2018) renounce the taxonomy of “vegetative state,” arguing that there are various uncertainties that are inevitable and impossible to eliminate. They classify these uncertainties into various types: scientific uncertainty, personal (or experiential) uncertainty, practical uncertainty, and ethical uncertainty. They also emphasize the importance of having health care providers share them with family member surrogates at the time of determining a course of medical treatment for patients with disorders of consciousness (DoCs). Taking up the issue of misdiagnosis, their classification of uncertainties that need to be considered at the time of acknowledging the patient’s consciousness is quite excellent. We also completely agree with their assertion that the term “vegetative state” should be renounced.