
Woman earns college degree two decades after complete memory loss - GiraffeNecktie
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/gaithersburg-woman-earns-college-degree-two-decades-after-complete-memory-loss/2011/05/19/AFWAMg8G_story.html
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AngryParsley
_“It was literally like she had died,” Jim said. “Her personality was gone.”_

This is a great example of how modern medicine has made "death" a very vague
term. More and more often, we can keep bodies alive but we can't recover the
memories and personality in the brain. For most practical purposes, Su Meck
died in 1988. Fortunately in this case the damage wasn't completely permanent,
and a new Su Meck made a life for herself. Still, the law doesn't recognize
this and Su Meck 2.0 is beholden to contracts and commitments made by Su Meck
1.0. The law is slow to react to technological advances, so I think this
problem will only get worse as medicine gets better.

~~~
knowtheory
The law, regardless of what it aspires to, is designed to accommodate the
many, and deal with exceptions on a case by case basis.

The things that have happened to Su Meck are a rarity in every sense of the
word. Her circumstances are so exceptional that it seems weird to carve out
exceptions in the law, and really should be accommodated by the parties which
she would have previously formed contracts with.

On top of that, the law is supposed to draw up distinctions and standards that
can be used as yardsticks and metrics, and where there is genuine confusion
and vagueness, the law may not have enough clarity from societal standards, or
agreement from the medical establishment to be able to draw up reasonable
measures.

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chroma
I think the OP's point is that Su Mecks are rare today, but they will happen
more often as technology can save more people. Also,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information-theoretic_death> seems to have fewer
edge-cases than our current criteria for declaring death.

~~~
Symmetry
Thats true, but for common law countries at least we can start having judges
work out precedent for how to deal with this stuff when it starts to become an
issue. In a certain sense its inelegant to rely on the entities executing the
law being Turing complete, but thats what we do.

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yarone
Wow, incredible. If anyone interested in learning more about these types of
situations, I recommend "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" by Oliver
Sacks: <http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Mistook-His-Wife/dp/0684853949>

Incredible collection of stories like this one, from the point-of-view of a
neurologist.

~~~
joeyespo
Yes, that's an incredible book.

Here's a story by the same author about a blind man who had a procedure done
restoring his sight:
[http://web.archive.org/web/20060831124229/http://www.newyork...](http://web.archive.org/web/20060831124229/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/articles/060619fr_archive01)

(It's long, here's an abridged version: [http://www.sfu.ca/media-
lab/archive/2007/387/Resources/Readi...](http://www.sfu.ca/media-
lab/archive/2007/387/Resources/Readings/sacks_toseeornottosee.html))

It can help set the tone for the rest of his books. He has written some
fascinating things about human experience. I also highly recommend reading his
work if you're into this.

~~~
pessimizer
Thanks for the link, I had never seen that one before. Through link jumping, I
managed to find a blog written by a guy who had a similar experience:
[http://web.archive.org/web/20040401192741/www.senderogroup.c...](http://web.archive.org/web/20040401192741/www.senderogroup.com/mikejournal.htm)

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ciupicri
She barely recognized her family and friends or where she put the milk, yet
she was able to drive a car which implies both skills and knowledge of some
laws?

P.S. The article doesn't mention a big gap between her return home and the
moment she started driving again:

 _To complicate matters, for weeks after the injury Su could not make new
memories. She would awaken each day to a house full of strangers.

It would be years before she could remember where she had parked the car at
the mall._

This text implies that remembering where she parked took years, not driving
itself.

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gjm11
1\. The article actually says she lost the ability to drive.

2\. Different sorts of memories are represented in different ways and in
different parts of the brain. I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear of a case
of brain damage that destroyed huge amounts of "factual" memories without
depriving the victim of the ability to drive. Or vice versa.

~~~
ciupicri
The second point makes sense, but given the scale of the damage I'm still
surprised.

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asanwal
Incredible and remarkable story.

Quite honestly, I am amazed/impressed that her husband also persevered and
stuck through what must have been a very trying and long recovery process.

~~~
bendmorris
Also, imagine what it must've been like for the kids.

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biot
The oldest was two years old at the time and likely would not remember it ever
being any different. Not to say it wouldn't have been a bit awkward seeing the
difference between mom and dad or comparing to other kids' parents as they
grew older, but kids are resilient and I imagine they did quite fine.

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dmm
Damn it's good to have family.

