Court-appointed doctors had said she was in a permanent vegetative state and would not recover, but her parents had said she could.

BBC: NEWS | Americas | Brain-damaged Terri Schiavo dies

It does raise many ethical issues - for example - it is lawful to allow patients in a permanent vegetative state to die by withdrawing all treatment, but if a patient showed they could respond it would not be, even if they made it clear that was what they wanted.

BBC: Vegetative state patients can respond to questions

Patient L suffered severe brain damage following a third cardiac arrest in mid-July and relatives say it is too early to determine whether he is in a "permanent" vegetative state, arguing they have observed "some degree of responsiveness".

BBC: Manchester