Severe brain injuries or head traumas in humans can lead to various stages of so-called disorders of consciousness (DoC). These are states in which consciousness is either partly or entirely absent, ...

PHILADELPHIA — For two decades, car-crash victim Rom Houben lay paralyzed and voiceless in what his doctors thought was a vegetative state. He appeared to be awake, but showed no signs of awareness.

I recently interviewed Daniel Toker, a 33-year-old neurologist at UCLA who's exploring innovative ways to cure coma. Toker was overflowing with ideas to treat disorders of consciousness, which include ...

A cognitively impaired woman at a nursing facility in Arizona gave birth to a baby last month, prompting a sexual-assault investigation and a cascade of news reports. When the 29-year-old patient at ...

A look at some of the differences between states of consciousness and brain death: Brain death: These patients are no longer alive. There has been an irreversible cessation of all activity in both the ...

Researchers may have found a way to detect inklings of consciousness in comatose and vegetative patients just days after they experience a brain injury—and it appears the method may help predict which ...

A teen stablehand who cheated death after a horrific high-speed fall left her waking from a coma in a “vegetative state” is ...