Could this resurrect the whole Terry Schiavo debacle..?

Doctors on Tuesday sought to understand why a brain-damaged firefighter snapped to attention after nearly a decade of sitting silently in a wheelchair and watching television at his nursing home.

Firefighter Donald Herbert, 43, abruptly turned talkative and lucid to the delight of family and friends who visited him on Saturday after he asked staff at the facility where his wife, Linda, was. Herbert spent 14 hours chatting and catching up on news about his wife, four sons, friends and former firefighting colleagues. He then went into a deep sleep for 30 hours.

Buried under flaming debris while searching a Buffalo apartment building in December 1995, Herbert went without oxygen for about six minutes before being rescued. He lapsed into a coma for more than two months. When Herbert came out of it, he had lost his sight, his speech was halting and slurred, and he did not recognize loved ones.