Even if the patient died, and even if only a subset of patients are eligible, this is still a major breakthrough.
Waking up after years in a vegetative state is extremely rare.
People with ischemic or traumatic brain injury severe enough to cause a coma, and who don’t die early, end up either in permanent vegetative state, or recover somehow.
People who recover must often deal with physical, cognitive and behavioral impairments that make them prone to complications such as infection, even when they wake up spontaneously.
