@BJN:

But I think that misses the point here. The patient may well be conscious; that doesn't imply anything about whether he's communicating.

A number of studies on "facilitated communication" back when it was in vogue for autistic children showed that the children frequently did not need to be able to see the screen or the keyboard, whereas the facilitator appeared to (try typing with one finger without looking at the keyboard--it's quite impossible, even if you can touch-type).

Further experiments (e.g. in which the child was shown an image not shown to the facilitator and asked to describe it) showed the communication to be entirely that of the facilitator.

These experiments are easily implemented and would quickly set the record straight for this subject, as well, were the patient's family (and doctors?) not wedded to the false hope provided by what is almost certainly a farce.