Posted on 12/24/2009 11:37:22 PM PST by SmartInsight
A car crash victim who was believed to have been in a coma for the past 23 years has been conscious the whole time.
Rom Houben was paralysed but could not let doctors know that he could hear every word they were saying, reports the Daily Mail.
"I dreamed myself away," said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegatative state.
Doctors conducted a series of coma tests before concluding that his consciousness was "extinct".
But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally.
Mr Houben said: "All that time I just literally dreamed of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt."
His case has only just been revealed in a scientific paper released by the man who 'saved' him, top neurological expert Dr Steven Laureys.
"Medical advances caught up with him," said Dr Laureys, who believes there may be many similar cases of false comas around the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at ananova.com ...
I’m just amazed at the strength of this man, heartbroken about his frustration, and joyful that he can communicate and read again.
How undignified of him. Clearly he should have been “allowed” to die “with dignity” years before. /s
nice, but, that’s not really the “quality” of life we’re looking for, now is it?
Cheers!
Bump
“How undignified of him. Clearly he should have been “allowed” to die “with dignity” years before. /s”
Never fear, under Obamacare he wouldn’t last 23 months, much less 23 years — it’s all about cost effectiveness, you know.
I have heard that the facilitated communication techniques are a hoax. Are we sure that this man is not in a coma???
I used to work with an old guy who was involved in the little known combat with hard core Japanese holdouts who continued fighting well after the Japanese surrender. He was bayoneted in a fight in a cave on Honsu and contracted an infection that left him paralyzed for a year. He was “unconscious” the whole time but heard every word around him and felt everything that was done to him. He heard his family members talking and praying around his hospital bed the whole time.
There are much better sources than Ananova to quote on this story. According to other sources Dr. Laureys first noticed that he could move his foot about 2 or 3 yrs ago. The most obvious question, not answered by any news accounts that I could find, is why didn’t anyone notice that he could respond 23 yrs ago?
How awful for this poor guy. Hear everything said but could not respond...Yieks. I would not want that even for my worst enemy. I feel horrible for this guy.
life
It is often hard to believe, but they tell family members who witness a movement...”it’s just a random nerve reaction etc.”
Kind of frightening to think that for 23 years Doctors and Nurses, ignored those movements...
He’s lucky they didn’t start harvesting his organs.....
I hope you are not serious. Killing people is unconscionable. If you were strapped down, and your mouth taped, would death be any easier than for him. He can decide his quality of life.
BINGO! We have a winna!
You mean...like Terri?
This man was fortunate he didn't experience it, whatever it was.
Oh, I remember now. Euphoria. He could have been a former, euphoric "vegetable," but here he his, testifying of his experience.
Funny, how wrong political ideologues with an MD can be, isn't it? It's almost as if the politics are being given priority over the Doctor of Medicine.
They'd never do that, nope, not possible. We just have to take their word for these things. They're the experts. That's not awareness, it's just random neurons firing, a meaningless twitch. You're just seeing what you want to see, you rubes.
And now, the political and the medical are about to merge in earnest. The façade is about to come down. We're not going to like what we see.
In a video of him his eyes are closed and his head is lolling to the side while the 'facilitator' is typing away.
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