Boston ( CNN ) -- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev , the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings , lies in a hospital with a gunshot wound to the side of his neck , sedated and intubated , sources say . But he could be brought out of sedation in minutes so he could answer questions from law enforcement officials , doctors tell CNN . Intubated and sedated patients are often put on `` sedation holidays . '' What we know about the suspects . Under normal circumstances , doctors use these holidays , which last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours , so they can ask patients questions to assess neurological and cognitive functioning . The patients ca n't talk , since they have a tube down their throats , but they can write . `` They 're still pretty out of it on these holidays , pretty confused and sleepy , but they could be able to understand what 's being said to them , '' said Dr. Albert Wu , an internist and attending physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital . While many patients are groggy during these holidays , others are quite awake and thoughtful . Did one brother brainwash the other ? Tsarnaev , who has been hospitalized since his capture on Friday , has been communicating with officials , two sources told CNN . `` They have been questioning him since yesterday , '' a senior law enforcement source said . `` There is some form of communication between law enforcement and the suspect . '' Neither source would divulge what Tsarnaev has been communicating . Dr. Corey Siegel , a gastroenterologist and professor at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center , remembers visiting his grandmother in the intensive care unit while she was intubated and sedated . Fearing she might be dying , he asked her physicians to decrease her sedation so he could have one last conversation with her . She still could n't talk but she could write on a notepad . `` She woke up in five minutes and had a conversation . It was March , and she told me where her tax materials were so she could file her taxes , '' Siegel remembers . After a `` sedation holiday '' patients are put back under full sedation . `` It 's like these patients are asleep , '' said Wu , a professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health . `` They ca n't hold a conversation . They 're really out of it . '' Despite the sedation , some patients do respond a bit to what 's going on around them . They might , for example , grunt if a doctor taps them on the shoulder or says their name . `` They might squeeze your hand in response to a command or move their heads to a sound , but they ca n't answer questions , '' said Dr. Athos Rassias , associate professor of anesthesia and critical care at Dartmouth . Doctors sedate intubated patients because it 's uncomfortable and painful to have a tube down the throat and a machine forcing air into the lungs . CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger contributed to this report .
NEW : Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been communicating with authorities , sources say . Intubated and sedated patients are often put on `` sedation holidays '' These holidays are used to ask patients questions .