In July the BBC screened a documentary, Between Life and Death, following the life and death decisions being made for some of the patients in the neuro-intensive care unit at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. This compelling programme highlighted in particular the case of one patient whose family was convinced that he would not want to live in a quadriplegic or vegetative state. He had expressed this opinion previously, having seen a friend in this state. The decision to withdraw treatment was being considered until the patient's consultant noticed that the patient appeared to have intermittent voluntary control over his eye movements in response to direct questioning. It became apparent that the patient was in a locked-in state, rather than in a coma or vegetative state, and many months passed before he was able to communicate consistently by moving his eyes to indicate ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Once this point was reached, the medical staff were able to involve the patient in the decision making, respecting his autonomy, and he chose to live, knowing that he would never recover any further. For him, that was enough.
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