EVANGELIUM VITAE
Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
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."
Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Amen! Because this man is lucky enough to have a caring family, he will improve. Maybe he won't be the same, but I believe that he will conquer his disabilites with the help of his family.
This is very scary, when you think about it.
You're right. Terri wasn't comatose, she was aware and awake. Just knock it off...
Perhaps because he was in a coma for two years they were projecting long-term. A week/ your grandma's surgery, that is one thing, a short objective. As a coma drags on and on and the doctors don't see improvement or hope, I imagine one sees it so differently.
You're delusional. Terri hadn't enough brain to be aware or awake. The Terri supporter's zeal on this site is almost cultish.
Yes, anyone who doesn't agree with you is obviously delusional.
Our understanding was that the length of time did not matter. She was on a floor with other patients who were also in comas..not due to surgery. In fact, we were there one evening when a young man, who had been in a coma for several months as a result of a motorcycle accident, "woke up". That is one of the reasons the nurses and such were so conscientious about telling us that people can hear in comas. We were visiting with families in the rooms of our various loved ones throughout the days. I really don't buy the idea that the Italian doctors didn't know this.
And evidence that only the Lord knows His plan for our life, and its timeline.
Anyone who chooses to ignore basic science is delusional.
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Salvatore Crisafulli's mother, Angela, kisses her son at his home in the Sicilian city of Catania. Crisafulli emerged from a deep coma, caused by a 2003 road accident, three months ago but only began speaking recently.
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Nice picture Coleus.
For a minute, I thought that said "the Sicilian city of Catatonia."
Wonderful that the young man is recovering.
Ping!
My mother also had a brain tumor, and had the same experience. She has recounted conversations that the nursing staff had, including dirty jokes they told. Trust me, my mother didn't imagine dirty jokes. She was a Dean of Women at a Christian College.
Thanks for the great story.
It seems that doctors are ALWAYS giving up.
Prayers offered up for this man's full recovery.
Pity Terri didn't have that chance.
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