… The truth behind organ donation & organ transplants
A Belgian man diagnosed as comatose for 23 years was in fact awake and conscious the whole time, doctors have revealed.
Rom Houben, 46, had no way to tell his family and doctors he could see them and hear what they were saying after waking up following a bad car accident in 1983.
He spent more than two decades in excruciating isolation until a neurologist realised he was not in a coma — just unable to communicate. “I dreamt myself away,” Mr Houben was quoted as saying in British newspapers.
“I became a witness to my own suffering as doctors and nurses tried to speak with me until they gave up all hope.”
The former engineering student and martial arts enthusiast, now 46, told German newspaper, Der Spiegel that he meditated to pass the long years trapped in his own body.
He remains haunted by the moment he first woke from the accident and realised something was wrong.
Using a specially-adapted computer to type messages, Mr Houben has been able to describe the ordeal he endured for more than two decades. “I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,” he said.
“I became a witness to my own suffering as doctors and nurses tried to speak with me until they gave up all hope.”
“I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me – it was my second birth. All that time I just literally dreamed of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt.”
Doctors at the time diagnosed Mr Houben as being in a persistent vegetative state after running eye, verbal and motor tests and finding him unresponsive. The diagnosis remained unchallenged until 2006 when neurologist Steven Laureys conducted hi-tech scans and found Mr Houben’s brain was functioning normally.
The case is only being reported now because Dr Laureys has published it in a medical journal, believing other cases may exist where people have been diagnosed incorrectly.
But until Laureys’ research moves out of the experimental phase and into standard testing at hospitals, experts say there may be some rare situations where doctors still miss the signs that someone is completely paralyzed but fully aware.
“If there’s anything we’ve learned in the past couple of years, is that we have to be very cautious about prognosticating; providing a severe prognosis early on,” said Dr. Michael DeGeorgia, director of the Neurocritical Care Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. ...
DeGeorgia said determining a person’s state of consciousness after a severe brain injury can be a subtle and difficult process, especially shortly after an accident when people are often on heavy pain medication.
(Editor: This is another case that calls into question the readiness of doctors to write people off because of severe brain injuries or supposed “brain death”. Clearly, with suitable care and treatment, such persons can recuperate. (NB: My emphasis in certain paragraphs)
(From “Belgian coma man was awake for 23 years.” By ninemsn staff and wires, Nov 24 2009, NineMSN.com. Viewed Feb 10, 2012 at http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/975201/belgian-coma-man-was-awake-for-23-years/ )
(plus “Conscious man ‘in coma’ for 23 years” by Allan Hall at The Telegraph (UK). Viewed Feb 10, 2012 at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/6632518/Conscious-man-in-coma-for-23-years.html ) )
(plus “Paralyzed Man Was Awake for 23 Years, Not in Vegetative State” by By Lauren Cox, ABC News Medical Unit at ABC Good Morning America. Viewed Feb 10, 2012 at http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/doctors-find-vegetative-paralyzed-man-awake-23-years/story?id=9159555 ) )
