Martin Pistorius, a young man in South Africa, recently told his story about waking up after being in what doctors thought was a vegetative state. When he was 12 years old, he developed meningitis which eventually caused him to lose all his mobility. The doctors told his parents to take him home because they thought he would soon die.

But he didn’t die…

After about 2 years, he says he started becoming conscious again but still lacked any movement in his body so he was not able to communicate his consciousness. He had to listen to various harsh remarks by his  family and friends about how they hoped he would die.

This is a very common scenario which is presented when trying to build a case for legalizing assisted suicide or euthanasia. The person is a vegetable and they can’t hear or feel anything. They may as well already be dead as they have no more functionality and they’re a burden to friends, family and society. No one wants to see them suffer so their lives should just be terminated.

But what if we’re wrong?

If Martin had been euthanized; he wouldn’t be married today and he wouldn’t have recovered from his illness and be leading the life he now has. His physical existence would have ended. It is something to be mindful of when discussing these issues. WE don’t always know what internal happenings are going on even if, from the outside, a person seems nonfunctional.