For practical reasons, we can equate coma with unconsciousness. Some scientists speak instead of a very depressed level of consciousness, since they argue that there is never a complete state of unconsciousness. Well, we are not getting into that debate. For us, coma equals unconsciousness equals an unresponsiveness to pain that has physical pathological origins.

The first symptoms of an impending coma are mental depression, later confusion, followed by a stupor and then a loss of consciousness. Of course, if a…..