History and Context of the Persistent Vegetative State -- The Pathological Basis of Vegetative States -- Authoritative Statements -- Consciousness -- Sentience -- Electrophysiological and Imaging Studies of Patients in Vegetative States -- An Analogy between Anaesthesia and Persistent Vegetative State -- Diagnosis and Misdiagnosis of Vegetative States -- Emergence from a Vegetative State -- A P…