Background: Vegetative state is a chronic disability that may occur following coma caused for any reason in a patient. In these patients, in spite of wakefulness, they have no knowledge about themselves and their surroundings. This topic is still followed by neurologists under different titles including its treatment, But in forensic medicine centers main issues are diagnostic challenges and how to deal with these patients to determine the value of the insurance. In this article, we have tried to briefly review the disease, provide a simple checklist for diagnosis and to how to determine the compensation that should be paid.
Methods: Using databases such as PUBMED, MEDLINE, to find authentic and, relevant articles, new articles were searched and then evaluated. Necessary information were collected and presented.
Conclusion: Although the diagnosis is challenging, but compliance with the above mentioned condition mistakes in diagnosis can be avoided. The final expert opinion should be given one year after the onset of this state (which has a minimum chance of improvement) and following completion of the case. Verifying the diagnosis should be done by at least two neurologists, separately, and in two different sessions of clinical examination. One the other hand, agreeing on a unique protocol for determining the amount of compensation, will result in avoiding discordance in expert opinions in a single case.