Editing Vegetative state (section)

== History ==
The syndrome was first described in 1940 by [[Ernst Kretschmer]] who called it ''apallic syndrome''.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1007/BF02871384 | vauthors = Kretschmer E| title=Das apallische Syndrom | journal= Zeitschrift für die gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie | volume=169 | pages=576–79 | year=1940}}</ref>  However the term ''vegetative'' had been attested to in the OED since 1764, then described as ''an organic body capable of growth and development but devoid of sensation and thought.''<ref name="Jennett">{{cite book | vauthors = Jennett B | title=The Vegetative State: Medical facts, ethical and legal dilemmas | publisher=University of Glasgow | location = Scotland | url=http://assets.cambridge.org/052144/1587/sample/0521441587ws.pdf | access-date=2007-11-09}}</ref> Thus the related term ''persistent vegetative state'' was coined in 1972 by [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[Vertebral column|spinal]] [[surgeon]] [[Bryan Jennett]] and [[United States|American]] [[neurologist]] [[Fred Plum]] to describe a syndrome that seemed to have been made possible by [[medicine]]'s increased capacities to keep patients' bodies alive.<ref name="Jennett">{{cite book | vauthors = Jennett B | title=The Vegetative State: Medical facts, ethical and legal dilemmas | publisher=University of Glasgow | location = Scotland | url=http://assets.cambridge.org/052144/1587/sample/0521441587ws.pdf | access-date=2007-11-09}}</ref><ref name="Jennett1972">{{cite journal | vauthors = Jennett B, Plum F | title = Persistent vegetative state after brain damage. A syndrome in search of a name | journal = Lancet | volume = 1 | issue = 7753 | pages = 734–37 | date = April 1972 | pmid = 4111204 | doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(72)90242-5 }}</ref>