In what could be a complicating factor in the Schiavo case, a report in The New York Times today, called “Signs of Awareness Seen in Brain-Injured Patients,” claims that brain imaging suggests that some patients with severe brain injuries still have some awareness of their surroundings. They seem to respond differently to familiar stimuli. The open questions are, first, whether such information might predict the potential for some additional recovery, and second, whether minimal awareness is enough to suggest that such patients be kept alive. — Paul Root Wolpe