Mosaic Decisionmaking and Reemergent Agency after Severe Brain Injury

In this article, I will discuss the challenge posed by the reemergent agency of individuals with severe brain injury whose ability to communicate has been partially restored by neuroprosthetics, drugs, and rehabilitation. Instead of categorically distinguishing patients as either competent or incompetent, these technologies necessitate a more nuanced approach to intermediate states of decisionmaking capacity. This indeterminacy is addressed through a mosaic approach to decisionmaking, which seeks to achieve a proportionate and prudent balance between unbridled self-determination and conventional surrogate representation.