Also see the separate article Coma. Previously, the term persistent vegetative state (PVS) was used to describe all patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness. PVS has become marked by ethical and medical dilemmas, often, if not always, requiring legal assistance.
Full Definition of AGENCY. 1. a: the office or function of an agent b: the relationship between a principal and that person's agent. 2. : the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power: operation.
In sociology and philosophy, agency is the capacity of an entity (a person or other entity, human or any living being in general, or soul-consciousness in religion) to act in any given environment.