There is no treatment that can increase a person's chances of recovering from a vegetative state. Any treatment given is purely supportive, ensuring the person is as physically healthy and comfortable as possible.
This supportive treatment usually involves:
- providing nutritional support through a feeding tube
- making sure that the person is regularly moved so that they don't develop pressure ulcers
- gently exercising their joints to prevent these from becoming tight
- keeping their skin clean
- managing their bowel and bladder, such as using a tube known as a catheter to drain the bladder
- keeping their teeth and mouth clean
Withdrawing nutritional support
Once a diagnosis of a permanent vegetative state has been confirmed, it is recommended that nutritional support should be withdrawn. There are a number of reasons for this:
- There is practically no chance of a recovery.
- Prolonging life would have no benefit to the individual concerned.
- Prolonging treatment would offer only false hope and cause unnecessary emotional distress to the friends and family of the person concerned.
The medical team will discuss the issue with those who are closest to the person being supported, and will give them time to consider all the implications.
If agreement is reached about withdrawing life support, the decision has to be referred to the courts before any further action can be taken.
If the court agrees with the decision to withdraw support, the individual will be sedated (made unconscious with medication) and their nutritional support will be withdrawn. They will then die peacefully in their sleep.
