The American Academy of Neurology stated that nobody has ever recovered from a permanent vegetative state like the one Terri Schiavo is presently in.

In fact, according to the latest data available, Terri Schiavo has already beaten long odds by surviving for the past 15 years.

'Approximately 10,000 to 25,000 adults and 6,000 to 10,000 children in the United States are diagnosed as being in the persistent vegetative state,' the Multi-Society Task Force on Persistent Vegetative State says in its 1995 guidelines on the condition, the latest available.

'Survival beyond 10 years is unusual. The chance for survival of greater than 15 years is approximately 1 in 15,000 to 1 in 75,000,' it adds, according to Reuters.

Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler claim she is responsive to them and has a chance at recovery. The experts do not agree but believe this is a common misconception that the loved ones of people in this condition often have.

'To the families and loved ones, and to inexperienced health care professionals, PVS patients often look fairly 'normal,''' Dr. Ronald Cranford, a neurologist and bioethicist at the University of Minnesota Medical School said in a statement.

'Their eyes are open and moving about during the periods of wakefulness that alternate with periods of sleep; there may be spontaneous movements of the arms and legs, and at times these patients appear to smile, grimace, laugh, utter guttural sounds, groan and moan, and manifest other facial expressions and sounds that appear to reflect cognitive functions and emotions, especially in the eyes of the family.'

Dr. Cranford continued, 'Sadly, these actions often appear meaningful to hopeful families but are all automatic reflexes -- not movements with a purpose. There are no confirmed reports of anyone fully recovering from a permanent vegetative state lasting more than three months.'

The part of the brain where the personality is held, known as the cerebral cortex, has been destroyed by lack of oxygen. Dr. Lawrence Schneiderman of the University of California at San Diego posted the following at www.seeingthedifference.berkeley.edu/schneiderman.html: 'Four to six minutes of anoxia, lack of oxygen, destroys that completely. The rest of your brain, particularly the brain stem, can survive for fifteen or twenty minutes without oxygen. What happens is that that part of the brain, the cerebral cortex, which is us, our personality, who we are, how we think -- our capacity to experience, see, hear, think, emote -- that may be permanently destroyed.'

Experts say it appears that there is no hope of Terri Schiavo returning to a normal life. The question is, what were her true wishes and who should determine whether she should be kept alive indefinitely in a permanent vegetative state.