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Paralyzed Man In "Coma" For 23 Years Was Actually Conscious

Posted by samzenpus on from the I-have-an-itch-all-over dept.

overcaffein8d writes "A man who was paralyzed and thought to be comatose for 23 years had his nightmare ended. A hi-tech scan showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally. From the article: 'I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,' said Mr. Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegetative state. "I dreamed myself away," he added, tapping his tale out with the aid of a computer. Mr. Houben said: "I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me — it was my second birth. I want to read, talk with my friends via the computer and enjoy my life now that people know I am not dead."'"

3 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I Call BS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    James Randi calls BS too. In the video that was released, the coma guy was shown assisted in his communicating. His caretaker holds his hand while it rapidly types out his messages. Check out This Cruel Farce Has to Stop (http://www.randi.org)

  2. Skeptical of claims using faciliated communication by JoshuaZ · · Score: 2, Informative

    The individual in question is typing by aid of "facilitated communication" where by an assistant helps them type the words. There has been a lot of criticism of this method before. It was attempted with severely autistic kids about a decade ago and later worked showed that it was likely that the messages were coming almost completely from the facilitators not the kids. See http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/really_this_guy_is_conscious.php

  3. Withdrawing Support OR Human Ouijja = Sadistic ? by hitnrunrambler · · Score: 3, Informative

    I am not a medical professional, and can only judge based on the information we have been given.....

    But when I watch this video I don't see the same thing that's being reported.
    http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/24/coma.man.belgium/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

    What I see is some very questionable "facilitated communication"
    http://www.skepdic.com/facilcom.html

    Is it possible that the story is true as it's been presented? I don't know

    Is it possible that he can actually be guiding the "communication" when his pupils are not following the motion? I don't know

    Is it possible that he is still completely unaware at this point? I don't know

    I do know that the only people I've seen saying either "It's a MIRACLE!" or "It's a HOAX" have an agenda to support.... and I don't trust anyone who's that certain based on 3rd hand information.