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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."'"

4 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. I Call BS by DynaSoar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually, I call troll.

    The article uses coma and PVS (persistent vegetative state) interchangeably. They're not. And the symptoms described do not belong to either of those, but rather to "locked in state". Since the article makes these two glaring errors, as well as the following, I call BS on the author and Mail Online. The difference between these three states is well understood by the neurologists that would have diagnosed him after having performed the test far more accurate in differentiating these, the same EEG that's been around for far longer than this man's problems. There'd be no reason to use a far more expensive and far less accurate test.

    The article is a troll, intended solely to push peoples' buttons regarding with regards to the life support and health care cost issues. If I'm wrong about it being a troll, fine, but I'm not wrong about it being a fake. The details show that it was written with no understanding of the subject, which would not have happened if actual neurologists were consulting on a real case and were interviewed for a story. There's too many problems for them to be able to weasel out of it by claiming there were 'some mistakes'.
     

    --
    "I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
    1. Re:I Call BS by NervousWreck · · Score: 2, Insightful

      1-ignorance is not malice. 2-The fact that a post will lead to political discussion does not make it troll I call flamebait if anything.

      --
      I do not have a sig. You are hallucinating.
  2. Re:Withdrawing Life Support = Sadistic by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 2, Insightful

    To be honest, I would prefer death to 23 years of that kind of hell.

  3. Re:Withdrawing Support OR Human Ouijja = Sadistic by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Facilitated Communication": an ouija board for nurses...