Whilst we are contemplating what it means that a woman diagnosed as PVS is actually cognitive, as determined by MRI tests, let us not forget this very interesting development from a few months ago. Remember, when Ambien apparently aroused three PVS patients in S. Africa, permitting them to interact so long as the drug’s effect lasted?
I have no idea how all of this will turn out. But this much I do know: What we don’t know about cognitive disabilities should make doctors and bioethicists a little more humble and definitely more reluctant to deprive these helpless people of food and water.
Lift My Chin, Lord
Lift my chin, Lord,Say to me,“You are not whoYou feared to be,Not Hecate, quite,With howling sound,Torch held…
Letters
Two delightful essays in the March issue, by Nikolas Prassas (“Large Language Poetry,” March 2025) and Gary…
Spring Twilight After Penance
Let’s say you’ve just comeFrom confession. Late sunPours through the budding treesThat mark the brown creek washing Itself…