Permanent Unconscious Condition Definition:

Also known as a persistent vegetative state.

A pre-1999 version of the California Health and Safety Code provided that a permanent unconscious condition was an:

"... irreversible coma or persistent vegetative state...."¹

In the living will provisions at Title 70 of the Revised Statutes of Washington 2013, §70.122.030:

"If at any time I should be diagnosed in writing to be in a terminal condition by the attending physician, or in a permanent unconscious condition by two physicians, and where the application of life-sustaining treatment would serve only to artificially prolong the process of my dying, I direct that such treatment be withheld or withdrawn, and that I be permitted to die naturally....

"... a permanent unconscious condition means an incurable and irreversible condition in which I am medically assessed within reasonable medical judgment as having no reasonable probability of recovery from an irreversible coma or a persistent vegetative state."

REFERENCES:

• NOTE 1: Conservatorship of Wendland, 28 P. 3d 151 (Supreme Court of California, 2001)
• Thor v. Superior Court, 855 P. 2d 375 (California Supreme Court, 1993)