Following a car accident, Missy has only minimal consciousness. Sometimes her eyes may open, and she spends part of her time seemingly awake (i.e., not sleeping), but there are no clear signs of consciousness

Medical professionals would most accurately describe her condition as a
A) minimally conscious state.
B) coma.
C) persistent vegetative state.
D) dissociative state.

Answer: C
Rationale: If a patient in a coma improves slightly, he or she is likely to enter a persistent vegetative state (PVS), a state of minimal to no consciousness, where the patient's eyes may be open, and he or she will develop sleep-wake cycles although there are no clear signs of consciousness. For example, PVS patients do not appear to focus on objects in their visual field, nor do they track movement.