Care of patients in a persistent vegetative state raises serious ethical questions. Often misdiagnosed, this “new disease,” which is the result of advancing medical technology, raises such serious issues as the definition of death, nurses' personal ethical and religious convictions, and the ethical integrity of the nursing profession. Conscience clauses that allow nurses to refuse to cause death in non-dying patients vary widely, but few, if any, address the situation of incompetent but non-dying patients.