> More than a year after Aaron’s collapse, a year of hospitals and nursing homes, Tabitha still believed that her husband was probably aware and improving, though not a single clinician had raised the possibility that he might be. It made her wonder how doctors could know about a thing, covert consciousness, for 20 years, but still go about their work as if they didn’t. And not explain any of it to patients and their families. “I think they don’t want to give you false hope,” she says. So they try to make sure that you don’t hope at all.

I wouldn't be shocked if many doctors she encountered just weren't up-to-date on the latest findings; even if they were, I can understand why they might not have mentioned it, for all the ethical dilemmas and general uncertainties outlined in this piece. But it really is a heartbreakingly difficult situation all around.

Another story that's stuck with me (although this is about brain death, which is different from a persistent vegetative state but is surprisingly thorny to define--different jurisdictions have different criteria, and some even allow for religious objections to legal death): https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/05/what-does-it-m...