question: How do bodily functions work when someone is in a coma?
comment: It's auto pilot; it just happens. It's contained and managed most simply by briefs aka 'adult diapers' if you're not into promoting respect. Specifically for urine: Texas/condom cath to mke it easier for caregivers. Maybe an indwelling cath, but this shouldn't be used as a long term solution. A suprapubic cath is a longer term solution. For BMs/poop: One could get a colostomy bag to manage it easier... ish.
passages: A coma can be classified as (1) supratentorial (above Tentorium cerebelli), (2) infratentorial (below Tentorium cerebelli), (3) metabolic or (4) diffused. This classification is merely dependent on the position of the original damage that caused the coma, and does not correlate with severity or the prognosis. The severity of coma impairment however is categorized into several levels. Patients may or may not progress through these levels. In the first level, the brain responsiveness lessens, normal reflexes are lost, the patient no longer responds to pain and cannot hear.
   Although a coma patient may appear to be awake, they are unable to consciously feel, speak, hear, or move. For a patient to maintain consciousness, two important neurological components must function impeccably. The first is the cerebral cortex which is the gray matter covering the outer layer of the brain. The other is a structure located in the brainstem, called reticular activating system (RAS or ARAS). Injury to either or both of these components is sufficient to cause a patient to experience a coma.
  
  Section::::Classification.:Brain death.
   Section::::History.:The Wasted Forces Of Great Army Of Holy Seals.
   Coma patients may also deal with restless, or seizures. As such, soft cloth restraints may be used to prevent them from pulling on tubes or dressings and side rails on the bed should be kept up to prevent patients from falling.
  
  Section::::Treatment.:Caregivers.
   Section::::Diagnosis.:Body movements.
   Imaging basically encompasses computed tomography (CAT or CT) scan of the brain, or MRI for example, and is performed to identify specific causes of the coma, such as hemorrhage in the brain or herniation of the brain structures. Special tests such as an EEG can also show a lot about the activity level of the cortex such as semantic processing, presence of seizures, and are important available tools not only for the assessment of the cortical activity but also for predicting the likelihood of the patient's awakening. The autonomous responses such as the skin conductance response may also provide further insight on the patient's emotional processing.
   A brain-damaged man, trapped in a coma-like state for six years, was brought back to consciousness in 2003 by doctors who planted electrodes deep inside his brain. The method, called deep brain stimulation (DBS) successfully roused communication, complex movement and eating ability in the 38-year-old American man who suffered a traumatic brain injury. His injuries left him in a minimally conscious state (MCS), a condition akin to a coma but characterized by occasional, but brief, evidence of environmental and self-awareness that coma patients lack.
  
  Section::::Society and culture.
   Twenty percent of comatose states result from the side effects of a stroke. During a stroke, blood flow to part of the brain is restricted or blocked. An ischemic stroke, brain hemorrhage, or tumor may cause restriction of blood flow. Lack of blood to cells in the brain prevent oxygen from getting to the neurons, and consequently causes cells to become disrupted and die. As brain cells die, brain tissue continues to deteriorate, which may affect the functioning of the ARAS.
   BULLET::::- Steven Pasquale as Dr. Mark Bellows, Chief Surgical Resident at Peach Tree Memorial Hospital
  
  BULLET::::- Geena Davis as Dr. Agnetta Lindquist, Head of Psychiatry at Peach Tree Memorial Hospital
  
  BULLET::::- James Woods as Dr. Theodore Stark, Chief of Surgery at Peach Tree Memorial Hospital
  
  BULLET::::- Ellen Burstyn as Mrs. Emerson, Head of Operations at the Jefferson Institute
  
  BULLET::::- Richard Dreyfuss as Professor Hillside, Professor at Atlanta University
  
  BULLET::::- James Rebhorn as Oren
  
  BULLET::::- Joe Morton as Dr. Nelson, head of Anestheseology at Peach Tree Memorial Hospital
  
  BULLET::::- Michael Weston as Peter Arno
  
  BULLET::::- Joseph Mazzello as Geoffrey Fairweather
   Section::::Society and culture.:Bioethics.
  
  A person in a coma is said to be in a unconscious state, perspectives on personhood, identity and consciousness come into play when discussing the metaphysical and bioethical views on comas.
  
  It has been argued that unawareness should be just as ethically relevant and important as a state of awareness and that there should be metaphysical support of unawareness as a state.
   Critically ill patients, unable to move spontaneously, are nursed in the supine position for extended periods of time. This is in striking contrast to normal human beings who, even during sleep, change their position approximately every 11.6 min–a phenomenon described by Keane as "minimum physiological mobility requirement." The deleterious effects of prolonged immobilization affect the heart, vascular system, musculoskeletal system, skin, and kidneys, despite the usual nursing practice of repositioning every two hours.
  
  Section::::Traditional methods of dealing with immobility.
   Treatment for people in a coma will depend on the severity and cause of the comatose state. Upon admittance to an emergency department, coma patients will usually be placed in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) immediately, where maintenance of the patient's respiration and circulation become a first priority. Stability of their respiration and circulation is sustained through the use of intubation, ventilation, administration of intravenous fluids or blood and other supportive care as needed.
  
  Section::::Treatment.:Continued care.
   The institute is hailed as an intensive care facility designed to cut down on heavy medical costs. Patients who are declared brain dead or "vegetables" are referred to the institute. Here, Susan finds that patients are suspended from the ceiling by wires in rooms walled by glass, and moved from room to room with little human involvement. The "samples" are kept alive and healthy until a call for an organ comes in. The organ of choice is removed surgically (without consent) and then sold on the black market.
   Medical conditions that inhibit consciousness are considered disorders of consciousness. This category generally includes minimally conscious state and persistent vegetative state, but sometimes also includes the less severe locked-in syndrome and more severe chronic coma. Differential diagnosis of these disorders is an active area of biomedical research. Finally, brain death results in an irreversible disruption of consciousness. While other conditions may cause a moderate deterioration (e.g., dementia and delirium) or transient interruption (e.g., grand mal and petit mal seizures) of consciousness, they are not included in this category.
  
  Section::::Medical aspects.:Anosognosia.
   A person in a state of coma is described as comatose. In general patients surviving a coma recover gradually within 2–4 weeks. But recovery to full awareness and arousal is not always possible. Some patients do not progress further than vegetative state or minimally conscious state and sometimes this also results in prolonged stages before further recovery to complete consciousness.
   Assessment of the brainstem and cortical function through special reflex tests such as the oculocephalic reflex test (doll's eyes test), oculovestibular reflex test (cold caloric test), corneal reflex, and the gag reflex. Reflexes are a good indicator of what cranial nerves are still intact and functioning and is an important part of the physical exam. Due to the unconscious status of the patient, only a limited number of the nerves can be assessed. These include the cranial nerves number 2 (CN II), number 3 (CN III), number 5 (CN V), number 7 (CN VII), and cranial nerves 9 and 10 (CN IX, CN X).
   Section::::Etymology.
   Section::::Physical anthropology.:Contributions to the field.
   Although diagnosis of coma is simple, investigating the underlying cause of onset can be rather challenging. As such, after gaining stabilization of the patient's airways, breathing and circulation (the basic ABCs) various diagnostic tests, such as physical examinations and imaging tools (CAT scan, MRI, etc.) are employed to access the underlying cause of the coma.
  
  When an unconscious person enters a hospital, the hospital utilizes a series of diagnostic steps to identify the cause of unconsciousness. According to Young, the following steps should be taken when dealing with a patient possibly in a coma:
   Section::::Signs and symptoms.
  
  General symptoms of a person in a comatose state are:
  
  BULLET::::- Inability to voluntarily open the eyes
  
  BULLET::::- A non-existent sleep-wake cycle
  
  BULLET::::- Lack of response to physical (painful) or verbal stimuli
  
  BULLET::::- Depressed brainstem reflexes, such as pupils not responding to light
  
  BULLET::::- Irregular breathing
  
  BULLET::::- Scores between 3 and 8 on the Glasgow Coma Scale
  
  Section::::Causes.
   Like coma, chronic coma results mostly from cortical or white-matter damage after neuronal or axonal injury, or from focal brainstem lesions.Usually the metabolism in the grey matter decreases to 50-70% of the normal range. The patient lacks awareness and arousal. The patient lies with eyes closed and is not aware of self or surroundings. Stimulation cannot produce spontaneous periods of wakefulness and eye-opening, unlike patients in vegetative state. In medicine, a coma (from the Greek κῶμα koma, meaning deep sleep) is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than six hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Although, according to the Glasgow Coma Scale, a person with confusion is considered to be in the mildest coma. But cerebral metabolism has been shown to correlate poorly with the level of consciousness in patients with mild to severe injury within the first month after traumatic brain injury (TBI).
   BULLET::::3. Find the site of the brain that may be causing coma (i.e., brainstem, back of brain…) and assess the severity of the coma with the Glasgow Coma Scale
  
  BULLET::::4. Take blood work to see if drugs were involved or if it was a result of hypoventilation/hyperventilation
  
  BULLET::::5. Check for levels of “serum glucose, calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, phosphate, urea, and creatinine”
  
  BULLET::::6. Perform brain scans to observe any abnormal brain functioning using either CT or MRI scans
  
  BULLET::::7. Continue to monitor brain waves and identify seizures of patient using EEGs
  
  Section::::Diagnosis.:Initial evaluation.
   Neurological disorder patients may have sustained trauma to the brain or a disease such as Multiple sclerosis, Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or Stroke, Traumatic brain injury (TBI), and cerebral palsy and resultant Toe walking. The spring-loaded tension system safely accommodates a patient's tone and Spasticity by moving with the patient during episodes of resistance or spasms. When tone is challenged with a consistent, even force that fatigues the muscle and mentally relaxes the patient, the spring tension systems then bring the patient back to their end-range to continue a low-load, prolonged-duration stretch (LLPS).
  
  Additional neurological diagnoses include:
   Section::::Global disorders of consciousness.
  
  Given the absence of any accepted criterion of the minimal neuronal correlates necessary for consciousness, the distinction between a persistently vegetative patient who shows regular sleep-wave transitions and may be able to move or smile, and a minimally conscious patient who can communicate (on occasion) in a meaningful manner (for instance, by differential eye movements) and who shows some signs of consciousness, is often difficult. In global anesthesia the patient should not experience psychological trauma but the level of arousal should be compatible with clinical exigencies.
   Many types of problems can cause coma. Forty percent of comatose states result from drug poisoning. Drugs damage or weaken the synaptic functioning in the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) and keep the system from properly functioning to arouse the brain. Secondary effects of drugs, which include abnormal heart rate and blood pressure, as well as abnormal breathing and sweating, may also indirectly harm the functioning of the ARAS and lead to a coma. Given that drug poisoning is the cause for a large portion of patients in a coma, hospitals first test all comatose patients by observing pupil size and eye movement, through the vestibular-ocular reflex. (see "Diagnosis" below).
  
presuppositions: A person in a coma can't have working bodily functions. Bodily functions are not automatic.
corrections: Bodily functions are automatic and happen regardless of the state of the human as long as they are alive. Bodily functions are automatic and continue during a coma. 
raw_presuppositions: A person in a coma can't have working bodily functions. Bodily functions are not automatic. A person in a coma can't have working bodily functions.
raw_corrections: Bodily functions are automatic and happen regardless of the state of the human as long as they are alive. Bodily functions are automatic and continue during a coma.  Bodily functions are automatic.