Recent studies on patients in a vegetative state undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging have allowed to better differentiate the vegetative state from the minimally conscious state and have shown the possibility that in the future we can detect the permanence in these patients of islands of consciousness. Such evidence might further increase the legal and moral dilemmas raised by these cases, since the scientific future advancements will make increasingly complex to apply the principle in dubio pro vita on the patient who provide signals in a reverse direction.
Keywords: Stato vegetativo, stato di minima coscienza, best interest, coscienza, autonomia, neuroimaging.