Belgian neurologist wins €1m prize for work on serious brain traumaGeneret prize will fund more trials by Steven Laureys to help written-off ‘vegetative’ patients.

Neuroscience Belgian neurologist wins €1m prize for work on serious brain trauma Generet prize will fund more trials by Steven Laureys to help written-off ‘vegetative’ patients. A pioneering Belgian neurologist has been awarded €1m to fund further work in helping diagnose the most severe brain injuries, as he seeks to battle “ the silent epidemic ” and help people written off as “ vegetative” who, it is believed, will never recover. Steven Laureys, head of the coma science group at Liège University hospital, plans to use the £850,000 award – larger than the Nobel prize – to improve the diagnosis of coma survivors labelled as being in a “ persistent vegetative state ”. That is “ a horrible term ” he says, although still one widely used by the general public and many clinicians. Laureys, who has spent more than two decades exploring the boundaries of human consciousness, prefers the term “ unresponsive wakefulness ” to describe people who are unconscious but show signs of b...