Monday, November 23, 2009

Mistakenly diagnosed as brain dead for 23 years



Times on line

A man presumed to have been in a deep coma for 23 years has spoken of his "second birth" after doctors realised that he had been fully conscious all along but unable to communicate.

Rom Houben, 46, was paralysed in a car accident that left him in what doctors thought was a persistent vegetative state. In fact he remained aware of his surroundings and could hear medical staff gradually give up hope on him.

Researchers using new scanning techniques discovered that his brain was still active and trained him to use his right forefinger to express himself on a specially adapted keyboard.

His case is being highlighted in his native Belgium by doctors who are pioneering new ways of understanding coma victims, hundreds of whom around the world could be conscious but locked in paralysis – and, unlike a true coma patient, able to feel pain.

3 comments:

  1. There is no implication to the halachic discussion, since this man had reflexes. It wasn't the Brain Stem Death standard already used in the UK, which is the criterion being debated lehalakhah.

    The error was thus in knowing how much brain activity was occurring, something much harder to determine than a pure "none".

    -micha

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your headline is incorrect. He was thought to have been in a coma, not brain dead. These are two very different conditions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your headline is incorrect. He was thought to have been in a coma, not brain dead. These are two very different conditions.

    ReplyDelete

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