In a First, Brain Implant Lets Man With Complete Paralysis Spell Out Thoughts (science.org) 27
sciencehabit writes: In its final stages, the neurological disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can bring extreme isolation. People lose control of their muscles, and communication may become impossible. But with the help of an implanted device that reads his brain signals, a man in this "complete" locked-in state could select letters and form sentences, researchers report this week. "People have really doubted whether this was even feasible," says Mariska Vansteensel, a brain-computer interface researcher at the University Medical Center Utrecht who was not involved in the study, published in Nature Communications. If the new spelling system proves reliable for all people who are completely locked in -- and if it can be made more efficient and affordable -- it might allow thousands of people to reconnect to their families and care teams, says Reinhold Scherer, a neural engineer at the University of Essex.
advanced directive (Score:2)
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I suppose they probably consented to some stuff for the cases where they no longer can give consent, similar to how people may sign a living will.
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I wonder how you request (or agree to) this kind of intervention if you are completely paralyzed.
His first words are: "P .. L .. E .. A .. S .. E .. K .. I .. L .. L .. M ..." before the connection was lost.
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Re: advanced directive (Score:2)
Religious family that doesn't believe in euthanasia: "Please Kill Mike? Sorry bucko. No can do!"
And just like that, we have entered, the Twilight Zone.
Can't wait for the right-to-lifers to weigh in (Score:2)
In some jurisdictions, there wouldn't be a problem, but what will they do when some person in the last stages of ALS says, "Let me die", or "Can you at least give me some really, really good hallucinogens to help pass the time?"
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If you are completely paralyzed does that still work? And if it does still work can you feel it?
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awwshit asked the non-musical question:
If you are completely paralyzed does that still work? And if it does still work can you feel it?
ALS is a form of progressive neuropathy. That means it first manifests in the sensory and motor nerves with the longest pathways: the toes and fingertips. The patient progressively loses motor control over his entire efferent peripheral nervous system, and her sensory nerves begin misreporting data, as well. (Essentially every sensation you feel eventially winds up being perceived as pain.)
It's a drag all the way around.
My strong hunch is that completely paralyzed ALS
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That was my point, you don't want to bang the nurse when you can't feel it - it just makes the torture more immediate.
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I know someone, through friends, who was diagnosed with ALS and given three years to live. I suspect some of you have heard of him. He remained positive and supported by all his friends, and killed himself (illegally) a year later. I suspect it's fairly common. I had a gym teacher it happened to too, who declined in just a few years, and died naturally, as far as I know. It sounds completely miserable and heart-breaking, and progresses so quickly.
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Reuters: In a world first, a completely paralysed man used a brain interface to spell out the first message ever sent purely by brainwaves to the outside world. His message was "THIS SUCKS. SEND HEROIN. NOW!"
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In some jurisdictions, there wouldn't be a problem, but what will they do when some person in the last stages of ALS says, "Let me die", or "Can you at least give me some really, really good hallucinogens to help pass the time?"
Actually it's the euthanasists that have most problems with this. Because I bet that before the guy was hooked up to the implant you'd be screaming to "just pull the plug on him and let him die", and now that we have established means of communication oh golly gee surprise, surprise, turns out that he doesn't actually want that. And that's exactly what happens most (yes, not *always* but most) of the time in similar scenarios, even in people who signed DNR previously - turns out that the decision you make w
S h e d o e s ? D o i t n o w ! (Score:2)
"Quiet! He is aware and is thinking something to us!"
"D o e s t h e n u r s e h a v e s o f t h a n d s ?"
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"Oh jeez, toldja not to hook up another basement slashdotter."
My wife died from ALS (Score:2)
She still had eye movement at the time, but trust me, this is huge. Sure it's a baby step, but we have to start somewhere.
Re: My wife died from ALS (Score:2)
Was his first message "Kill me." (Score:2)
Total paralysis is kind of my definition of hell. Best you can do is sit there and watch movies.
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When I read the headline, the first thing I thought of was the scene from Aliens where they wake the woman on the wall.
"Please... kill me."
An important step (Score:2)
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I have worked with a few of these poor bastards.
Brain in a box.
A minority want to live at all costs. This device will help them.
Many suicided while they still could. While in a nursing home in your wheelchair, you can call a taxi that will take you to a local pier. You have just enough strength to wheel your chair to a deep spot off the pier and go over the edge. A few miserable minutes, then peace. This, and all too many similar situations, has haunted me for years. You can't get euthanasia in many places,
And his first words were: (Score:2)
KILL ME!
Applications to depth psychology (Score:2)
A shameless plug.
Being able to choose between "yes" and "no" answers allows one to communicate. That approach can be adapted to depth psychology, where you can seek to communicate with autonomous parts of your mind, who can share with you their emotions that can be used as "yes" or "no" signals. After that it's fairly easy to establish some communication.
Here's a prototype implementation [github.com].