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Paralyzed Man In "Coma" For 23 Years Was Actually Conscious
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."'"
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
To be honest, I would prefer death to 23 years of that kind of hell.
Find a way to turn it into a positive. Just think of it as the ultimate Buddhist training.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
Think back to 1985 or 1986... These kinds of scans simply didn't exist. Computer use was only just starting to happen in hospitals. CAT scans and MRI scans were just finally making their way into most hospitals....
We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
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
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.
"Facilitated Communication": an ouija board for nurses...