Man Trapped In Coma For 23 Years

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/man-trapped-coma-23-years

  Quote

For 23 years Rom Houben was trapped in his own body, unable to communicate with his doctors or family. They presumed he was in a vegetative state following a near-fatal car crash in 1983.

 

But then doctors used a state-of-the-art scanning system on the brain of the martial arts enthusiast, which showed it was functioning almost normally.

 

"I had dreamed myself away," said Houben, now 46, whose real "state" was discovered three years ago and has just been made public by the doctor who rescued him.

 

Steven Laureys, a neurologist at the University of Liège in Belgium, has published a scientific paper saying Houben could be one of many falsely diagnosed coma cases around the world.

 

Houben is being cared for at a facility near Brussels and now communicates via a computer with a special keyboard activated with his right hand, which is capable of minimal movement. He said his body was paralysed when he came round after his accident. Although he could hear every word his doctors spoke, he could not communicate with them.

 

"I screamed, but there was nothing to hear," he said, via his keyboard.

 

Houben then suffered years of being effectively trapped in his own body as care personnel and doctors at the hospital in Zolder tried to communicate with him, but eventually gave up hope that he would ever come round.

 

The moment it was discovered he was not in a vegetative state, said Houben, it was like being born again. "I'll never forget the day that they discovered me, it was my second birth."

 

Experts say Laureys' findings are likely to reopen the debate over when the decision should be made to terminate the lives of those in comas who appear to be unconscious but might have almost fully-functioning brains.

 

Belgian doctors used an internationally accepted scale to monitor Houben's state over the years. Known as the Glasgow Coma Scale, it requires assessment of the eyes, verbal and motor responses. But they failed to assess him correctly and missed signs that his brain was still functioning.

 

Laureys, who is head of the coma science group and neurology department at Liège University hospital, concluded coma patients are diagnosed falsely "on a disturbingly regular basis". In around 40% of cases diagnosed as vegetative, more careful examination shows there is still some level of consciousness. He examined 44 patients believed to be in a vegetative state, and found that 18 of them responded to communication.

 

"Once someone is labelled as being without consciousness, it is very hard to get rid of that," he told Spiegel magazine, calling for a systematic overhaul of the methods of diagnosis.

 

Laureys said patients who are not fully unconscious can often be treated and are capable of making considerable progress.

 

Around a fifth of patients who suffer serious head and brain injuries spend more than three weeks in a coma. Of those, between 15% and 25% are, technically speaking, still alive but remain in a state of unconsciousness, never to wake up.

didn't read the article but if he can move his right hand (& eyes) doesn't that mean he's not in a vegetative state?

kind of reminds me of the diving bell

  On 11/23/2009 at 7:03 PM, assegai said:

didn't read the article but if he can move his right hand (& eyes) doesn't that mean he's not in a vegetative state?

kind of reminds me of the diving bell

Well, if you had read the article, you would have discovered that they did indeed, grossly misdiagnosed his condition.

  On 11/23/2009 at 6:59 PM, Joyrex said:

  Quote

"I screamed, but there was nothing to hear," he said, via his keyboard.

oh my, that's terrible

  On 11/23/2009 at 7:05 PM, Joyrex said:

  On 11/23/2009 at 7:03 PM, assegai said:

didn't read the article but if he can move his right hand (& eyes) doesn't that mean he's not in a vegetative state?

kind of reminds me of the diving bell

 

Well, if you had read the article, you would have discovered that they did indeed, grossly misdiagnosed his condition.

I saw it was misdiagnosed, I was saying in general. Like that should have been a hint. And I read what you posted, but I thought there was more on a website.

  On 11/23/2009 at 7:06 PM, Super lurker ultra V12 said:

  On 11/23/2009 at 6:59 PM, Joyrex said:

  Quote

"I screamed, but there was nothing to hear," he said, via his keyboard.

oh my, that's terrible

but it's an excellent excuse to link to one of the best scifi short stories ever written

go on, you'll read it in a quarter of an hour

  On 11/23/2009 at 9:26 PM, kaini said:

but it's an excellent excuse to link to one of the best scifi short stories ever written

go on, you'll read it in a quarter of an hour

Yessss one of my favorite short stories ever. Everyone should read.

  Quote

but it's an excellent excuse to link to one of the best scifi short stories ever written

..this is the full version of this story?

what part of the big THE END at the end of the page didn't you understand?

I get it..I just thought before that this story is longer so I asked...

jesus man, that's gotta be so fucking horrible...I can't even stand it when I know i'm in a dream and can't get out of it..

that would like being buried alive. Likely you'd spend the first week screaming non-stop. I couldn't imagine the panic attacks.

johnny got his gun

  On 11/23/2009 at 10:59 PM, Franklin said:

that would like being buried alive. Likely you'd spend the first week screaming non-stop. I couldn't imagine the panic attacks.

what about after the first week? that he's still somewhat sane and coherent indicates he found something to do with the time....

pretty sure this has happened before. i remember seeing some shit on the news once about this dude who got fucked in an accident and his wife wanted to pull the plug on him after only a few weeks being hooked up to whatever it is coma people get hooked up to, and he managed to convince the people around him that he was conscious by moving his eyeballs.

comas / vegetative states / whatever seem to be overdiagnosed. it's pretty fucking scary

i am imagining terence stamp aimlessly floating through space trapped within that crystal prison... at least terence had ursa and non with him.

  On 11/23/2009 at 7:03 PM, assegai said:

didn't read the article but if he can move his right hand (& eyes) doesn't that mean he's not in a vegetative state?

in the video footage someone is moving his hand for him

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31388323/vp/34111007#34111007

  On 11/24/2009 at 12:00 AM, hahathhat said:

  On 11/23/2009 at 10:59 PM, Franklin said:

that would like being buried alive. Likely you'd spend the first week screaming non-stop. I couldn't imagine the panic attacks.

 

what about after the first week? that he's still somewhat sane and coherent indicates he found something to do with the time....

I would hope that his body would realize that panicking wasn't changing things so it eventually shut the sympathetic nervous system off. This would explain why he seems to be rather coherent at this point. still... scary as fuck.

I walked into this expecting the saddest story ever, but it sounds like he managed pretty well (considering the circumstances). "Dreaming yourself away" is what alot of people in a coma do.

Wow, to be in a state of constant dream sounds fucking awesome.

christ...its the only coping mechanism left for your mind....your mind needs constant stimuli or else it decays....just like any other organ or muscle that doesn't get "exercise"...

that sounds like without a doubt the worst possible existence ever.

For those of you that didn't look at the picture in the article, his "special keyboard" is just a touchscreen with someone holding his hand - and the way his hand is being moved in the video looks like a half-assed fraud.

yeah.... im not understanding how he is typing that... it looks like she is typing it for him.

but he is blinking...

Yikes. I recently had a pot experience where I got a paralyzing fear of getting trapped inside my mind and not being able to escape. This guy has lived out my biggest nightmare! If that ever happens to me I really hope they pull the plug...