“The victim’s parents would like to make clear that she is not in a coma,” the family of the 29-year-oldNative American womansaid in a statement through their attorney.
“The important thing is that she is a beloved daughter, albeit with significant intellectual disabilities,” the statement continues. “She has feelings, likes to be read to, enjoys soft music, and is capable of responding to people she is familiar with, especially family.”
Her family’s attorney previously portrayed the woman as someone “in a completely vulnerable state,” while a statement confirming the woman as a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe described her as “in a persistent vegetative state and coma.”
Phoenix police sergeant Tommy Thompson described her in a press conference and to PEOPLE as being “in a vegetative state.”
Dr. Mark Ashley, CEO and founder of the California-basedCentre for Neuro Skills, previously told PEOPLE that a “vegetative state” occurs when a person does not emerge from a coma into a consciousness.
“The vegetative state can arise from any number of causes of injury to the brain,” he says. “Typically an individual with a severe brain injury would first be described as comatose. They may emerge from coma to conscious state, but individuals who do not, for whom the unconscious state persists, may lighten into what is referred to as a vegetative state.”
“They may open their eyes and close their eyes in a return to a sleep-awake cycle,” he says. “They may cry or they may smile or make other facial expressions, but there’s no apparent causation. … It’s not tied to the specific events in their environment. They are not reproducible; they occur somewhat randomly. There’s no instruction-following. They may actually seem to move their eyes towards a person or objects, but again, the problem is whether it is intentional, volitional or reproducible. There’s essentially no purposeful movement.”
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The medical records reveal that the patient’s last doctor’s examination took place more than eight months prior to the birth.
PEOPLE was unable to reach the doctor who performed that examination, but that doctor has been suspended.
source: people.com
