In the movie, The Awakening?

Question

Why do you believe that the doctors at this hospital have achieved only short periods of consciousness for their "frozen" patients since 1969's miracle? What is it that you believe may be stopping them from achieving full consciousness for their patients?

Answer 1

The movie Awakenings is a fictional account but is based on the real life story of neurologist Oliver Sacks. The patients in the movie have since passed away but did live relatively normal lives. Dr. Sacks has a Q&A section on his web site at http://www.oliversacks.com/faq.htm.

Currently there is interest in the medication called Ambian, its a sleeping pill that seems to have a similar effect on some coma patients. They arn't 100% sure how it works but there is a really interested artical on it at...http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1870286,00.html.

Thanks to Dr. Sacks there is still a lot of work being done in this area, there is still a long way to go, especially with patients in a persistant vegitative state.

This was such a great movie. I would recomend that anyone who hasn't seen it check it out. http://imdb.com/title/tt0099077/

Hope this answers your question a little or at least gives you some more info.