ABSTRACT

This chapter argues that understanding conscious experiences is not directly relevant for determining whether someone is in pain, and the type of disorder of consciousness one has is relevant neither to being in pain nor to how pain should be treated. It outlines what the so-called disorders of consciousness are and why recent fMRI studies of some patients with disorders of consciousness are so important. Many people (perhaps most people) believe that being conscious elevates one's moral status in the world. The chapter briefly discusses whether knowing someone is conscious is useful information to have for a potential pain patient. It looks at how pain can be detected using fMRI in normal subjects and brain-damaged patients, asking not whether these studies can tell us if a patient is experiencing pain, but whether this question is a useful one for medical personnel or caregivers to ask.