The nurse is caring for a patient admitted with a traumatic brain injury following a motor vehicle crash.Several weeks later,the patient is still ventilator dependent and unresponsive to stimulation but occasionally takes a spontaneous breath.The physician explains to the family that the patient has severe neurological impairment and is not expected to recover consciousness.The nurse recognizes that this patient is

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A persistent vegetative state is a permanent,irreversible unconscious condition that demonstrates an absence of voluntary action or cognitive behavior,or an inability to communicate or interact purposefully with the environment.The patient is not brain dead,as evidenced by occasionally taking a spontaneous breath.Because the patient is not brain dead,he or she cannot be an organ donor at this time.Treatment of this condition may be considered futile; however,this condition would not be defined as terminally ill.

The Nurse Is Caring for a Patient Admitted with a Traumatic