Posted on 10/05/2005 2:13:46 PM PDT by nickcarraway
ROME, Oct 5 (Reuters) - An Italian man who spent two years supposedly unconscious in a deep coma, written off by doctors as nearly-dead, awoke saying he heard and understood everything happening around him during the long ordeal, his family said.
Salvatore Crisafulli, a father of four, is describing his case as a "miracle" which proves that lost causes are anything but hopeless and his recovery appeared to strengthen the hand of Italians opposed to end-of-life solutions.
His brother even called Crisafulli "an Italian Terri Schiavo case" with reference to the brain-damaged Florida woman who died in March after her feeding tube was removed.
"The doctors said that I wasn't conscious, but I understood everything and I cried in desperation," Crisafulli was quoted as saying in Italian media on Wednesday.
The comments were relayed through his brother in Sicily as Crisafulli, 38, slowly started recovering. He came out of a coma three months ago but only began speaking recently. His first word was "Mamma", his mother told the press.
News of his recovery hit Italy at about the same time as a national bioethics committee defended obligatory care for unconscious patients -- even those who opposed extraordinary medical measures to keep them alive.
The government committee, which acts as a reference point for lawmakers, voted in favour of the stance late last month, but the position paper is still being finalised.
"To feed an unconscious patient through a tube is not a medical act," said the committee's president, Francesco D'Agostino, in reported comments confirmed by his office.
"It's like giving a bottle to a newborn baby who can't be nursed by its mother ... And then we reflect on the Schiavo case. The woman was left to die of starvation."
The Schiavo case was closely followed in Italy, where the Roman Catholic Church demanded doctors keep feeding her, despite the wishes of her husband.
Pope John Paul II died two days after Schiavo, and the Vatican had compared the U.S. state court to an "executioner" for ordering her feeding tube removed.
Salvatore will probably never be the same as he was before the accident, and his mother spoke about his poor speech. But his family says he seems to be alert and aware.
"My brother speaks and remembers. I don't expect that he will be like he was, but it's already a miracle," Pietro said was quoted as saying in Corriere della Sera newspaper.
"And to think that some doctors said that it was all useless and that he would be dead in three, four months."
Reading this gives me chills as I believe that Terry could also hear and was probably also screaming in her silence while she slowly died of dehydration. BA$TARDS !!!!
Nothin' but net!
hmmmm...
It works for the abortion debate too. Ever wonder why so many of them are wild-eyed hysterical? These are people wrestling with their own demons.
So do tell us, who did you "assist"?
Terri ping
Pinged from Terri October Dailies
8mm
bump
I was for pulling the tube back then, but this is shocking news. You shouldn't assume that people against it won't read it. Some people actually do consider both sides of the issue. (Only some, tho, unfortunately.)
Praises to the Good Lord for this man's recovery.
Pinging this your way.
Amazing story as our Supreme Court hears Oregon's "doctor" assisted suicide law. There is growing evidence confirming the moral depravity of large segments of our society. Roe must be overturned before Americans forget the definition of the word conscience.
fyi
What are you doing up so late?
Amazing story!
My Mother said I could stay up late.
Coma is an interesting condition. They are here yet they aren't.
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