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Man 'in a coma' for 23 years was conscious


Still Waters

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A Belgian man diagnosed as being in a coma for 23 years was actually conscious the whole time.

Rom Houbens was simply paralysed and had no way to let doctors caring for him what he was suffering.

"I dreamt myself away," says Houben, now 46, who was misdiagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state after a car crash.

Doctors and nurses in Zolder deemed him a hopeless case whereby his consciousness was considered "extinct".

The former martial arts enthusiast and engineering student was paralysed after a car crash in 1983. He was finally correctly diagnosed three years ago and his case has just come to light in a scientific paper released by the man who "saved" him.

Doctors treating him regularly examined him using the worldwide Glasgow Coma Scale which judges a patient according to eye, verbal and motor responses.

During every examination he was graded incorrectly. And so he suffered in silence, unable to communicate to his parents, his carers or the friends who came to his bedside that he was awake and aware at all times what was happening in his room.

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I simply cannot imagine the hell this poor guy went through.

Makes me think how many other poor souls out there are in the same state? How many have even been allowed to die like it?

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The poor man, I can't begin to imagine how it must have felt for him.

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That right there has to be the definition of "This really sucks".

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Wow,just wow.

If he is connected to life support, imagine people standing there discussing whether to pull it. I'm sure this happened on some occasion. Then again I'm sure there were many times he just wanted to die. This is the absolute definition of solitary confinement.

What if we offered this instead of the death penalty? I'll bet the murder rate would drop right off.

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hmmm...how did they figure out he was paralyzed?

did it just come to mind to the guy to check for paralysis?

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He clearly know what it is when expression is not possible...Horrific case

Thanks

B???

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This is seriously disturbing. I am 23, and he spent the equivelant of my life in a bed, unable to move or express anything. That is just horrible. No one deserves a fate like that, i'm glad he was finally diagnosed correctly. And the thought that there are other people out there stuck in the same situation...

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He must've gone mad..

Can you imagine... Holy moly...

btw. in such cases can the person actually feel hunger, sleep etc?

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I love sleeping, I'd love to spend all day in bed.. dreaming... dreaAmmminnnng

mmmh I might fake being in a coma..

Edited by Bill Hill
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Did he? It's not like he's out of the coma is it? He's just been properly diagnosed. Probably because somebody watched that episode of House.

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I'm so glad that they figured it out for him, but man! 23 years of boredom, frustration and full body paralysis... with nothing for company but your own thoughts and your family and friends' grief. I can't even imagine the hell it must have been. :cry:

ETA:

Did he? It's not like he's out of the coma is it? He's just been properly diagnosed. Probably because somebody watched that episode of House.

He was never in a coma, he's paralized from the eyes down. That means he wasn't able to communicate that he was awake for all those years. And I personally don't watch House, but if an ep helped diagnose someone in that state, then that's awesome, give the writers an emmy... or at least the nobel prize. :tu: (But I still won't watch, too graphic for my tastes :blush:)

Edited by Pinx
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That's truly awful. It reminds me of "Johnny Got His Gun" Metallica also based their song "One" on it.

"Darkness imprisoning me

All that I see

Absolute horror

I cannot live

I cannot die

Trapped in myself

Body my holding cell"

Yeah, a faith worse than death...

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SO does he get to pay for his hospital bill if he was conscience all this time?

Edited by chemical-licker
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That's Hell on Earth, right there.

exactly.... :blink:

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Doubting a ‘Locked-In’ Man’s Words

Update | 8:45 p.m. Rom Houben, a Belgian man who spent 23 years lying motionless in bed, suffering from complete paralysis that was misdiagnosed as the result of a coma, was discovered to have been fully conscious three years ago by a doctor using new brain-scan technology.

Now, just four days after his remarkable story was first reported in the media, and he was shown giving a round of interviews to television journalists — typing out remarks on a special keyboard his family says he can operate with the help of a caregiver — Mr. Houben has been introduced to a new phenomenon: Internet fact-checkers.

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It must be a pain in the ass for a lot of doctors/hospitals now too. All those families now doubting the diagnoses of their comatosed family member.

Justified on some level. I mean ppl deserve to be 100% sure.

Edited by Triade
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Where was god in all of this? Why did he have to suffer so horribly? mad.gif Incapacited, vulnerable, lost... I wish to god I didn't believe in god. HORRIBLE.hmm.gif

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Apparently this is complete BS from what I've read. The video of the woman doing this is looking at his hand and moving his fingers for him. There is no independent movement. The poor man is a pawn and that woman should be arrested for fraud.

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