Some coma patients 'feel pain'

Brain scans show that coma patients most aware of their environment react to pain the same as healthy people.

Researchers who did the scans in Belgium say it justifies giving pain relief to all patients in this "minimally conscious state" (MCS).

"These findings might be objective evidence of a potential pain perception capacity in patients with MCS, which supports the idea that these patients need painkilling treatment," write Steven Laureys and his colleagues at the Coma Science Group of the Cyclotron Research Centre at the University of Liege in The Lancet Neurology.

Read full story at New Scientist.