wasMan in 'coma' for 23 years awake all along

[Wuirt]

 

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.

 

Source

 

What I find most amazing is the fact that he didn't go insane – 23 years of torture like that to me seems worse than death.

[Reconite]

Wow... that's weird.

I'd never be able to sit there for 23 years unable to communicate.

I'd probably go crazy trying.

[Frank.s]

Wow man,

I wonder what his view on life is now, what with him having all that time to do nothing but think...

[Xboxless]

I would have gone completely insane, seriously, laying in a bed doing f*ck all for 23 years..........OMG!!!!

 

God, I feel really sorry for this guy, and we need to start making sure everybody isn't "vegetative" and that they are really paralyzed.

 

Imagine if this happened to you, and your parents or loved ones were gonna "pull the plug" and you can't do a goddamn thing about it.

[Rebel]

Crazy, I heard about this on the news earlier. Although it just showed a video of him drooling...still I think I'd of gone crazy being stuck in one place knowing I can't move at all or speak. Reminds me of this guy who had been in a coma for over 28 years and he actually woke up one day. He woke up still thinking that his daughter was only 3, when she was in her early 30's.

[Exkabewbikadid]

That makes me feel claustrophobic just thinking about it. Everyone that knew him is probably thinking, "Oh crap I hope I didn't say anything offensive about him while in his room." Poor bastard.

[Democrab]

It reminds me of the song "One" by Metallica...

 

That'd be living hell.

[nixxio]

Wasn't there like an episode in House MD about like the exact same thing? Except the patient in house had a bike accident.

 

But sh*t, that sucks. If it took 23 years I would've tried to kill myself long before it reached that point, but I wouldn't be able to, because I can't move.

[CryptReaperDorian]

@Joe: You're going to bring Slamman to this topic by mentioning Metallica.

 

On-topic: That must really suck being fully conscious for 23 years in one spot, but this story is still somewhat touching. I mean he is part of a "state-of-art" technology scanning that can possibly save lives of a lot of people. Anybody else think about that?

[Oxidizer]

That's horrific. Not only is that a completely helpless, hopless situation to be in, but can you imagne waking up to look in the mirror and seeing a fortysomething-year-old man staring back at you instead of your 23-year-old face? F*ck that.

[makeshyft]

He's not going to be popping out of bed to jump in front of the mirror for a quick shave any time soon ever. But at least he has been given a way to communicate now.

[Don Garcia]

I've experienced sleep paralysis twice, and I was f*cking terrified for the seemingly short durations of both instances, but 23 years! I would've surely died of fear, anxiety, madness, all of the above.

[Digïtál £vîl]

You heard this was all a scam right? It didn't actually happen.

 

 

Site is down right now but:

 

 

 

    I'm enraged. Several perceptive persons have sent me to msnbc.com - where we can see Dr. Nancy Snyderman relating a story. It's a heartrender, described thus by Dr. Snyderman: A mother [in Belgium] says her son has emerged from what doctors thought was a vegetative state to say he was fully conscious for 23 years but could not respond because he was paralyzed.

 

    No, that is not what the man said, Dr. Snyderman. That's what an incompetent layperson typed for him! I ask you to first go to http://tinyurl.com/y8lku48, and note the section of the video from 12 to 35 seconds, then come back here.

 

    This is yet another obvious example of abysmal, practiced, purposeful ignorance by medical personnel - including Dr. Snyderman and her staff who prepared this piece. I cannot understand how anyone, professional medical person or layman, can continue to believe that the farce known as "Facilitated Communication" [FC] represents anything other than a fantasy that was begun back in 1977, when an Australian woman named Rosemary Crossley came up with the idea that autistic persons could express their thoughts via a keyboard when their hand was "supported" by what she called a "facilitator." In 1989, Douglas Biklen, a sociologist and professor of special education at Syracuse University, eagerly took up her cause, and as a result vast sums were donated to SU by friends and family members of autism victims - money that was simply wasted in futile "research."

 

    I personally investigated this matter. In March of 1992 I was contacted by Dr. Anne M. Donnellan, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who asked if I would be willing to participate in an investigation of FC as used with autistic children. I was already familiar with FC, and suggested to her that I felt the researchers were perhaps under the influence of the Clever Hans Effect [CHE], also known as the "ideomotor effect," in which the trainer - the facilitator in this case - was unconsciously transmitting the information to the autistic child. This possibility was emphatically denied by Dr. Donnellan, and I was assured that every care had been taken to ensure that the CHE was not in operation. The Clever Hans Effect is notorious in psychology. Early in the last century, a horse named Clever Hans - in German, der Kluge Hans - was claimed to have been able to perform arithmetic and other simple intellectual tasks. In 1907, psychologist Oskar Pfungst showed conclusively that the horse was not actually performing these mental tasks, but was reacting to cues provided by his trainer.

 

    My tests of autistic children at the University of Wisconsin-Madison clearly showed that FC was simply a tragic farce. My findings were totally ignored. The full account of this matter will be discussed in detail in my next book, A Magician in the Laboratory.

 

    The "facilitated communication" process consists of the "facilitator" actually holding the hand of the subject over the keyboard, moving the hand to the key, then drawing the hand back from the keyboard! This very intimate participatory action lends itself very easily to transferring the intended information to the computer screen. In the video you have just viewed, it is very evident that (a) the "facilitator" is looking directly at the keyboard and the screen, and (b) is moving the subject's hand. The video editing is also biased, giving angles that line up the head of the subject with the screen, as if the subject were watching the screen.

 

    This man in the msnbc.com piece is not seeing the screen. He is not aware of what is going on. He is an unknowing victim of these charlatans. A simple test - such as that done on October 19th, 1993, in a Frontline (PBS) documentary highlighting these concerns, "Prisoners of Silence," would prove that FC is a total fraud. This powerful and comprehensive program proved that FC was a delusion.

 

    Dr. Snyderman, how did this get by you? The evidence is right there on the screen! Others have solved this fraud. The Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Association on Mental Retardation, have no doubts about this. ABAI calls FC a "discredited technique" and warns that "its use is unwarranted and unethical." The Association for Science in Autism Treatment reviewed the research and position statements and concluded that the messages typed were controlled by the facilitator, not by the individual with autism, and that FC did not improve language skills.

 

    We critics of FC question why people can apparently give speeches in public - via a keyboard and a "facilitator" - and go to college - similarly "assisted" - yet they cannot answer a series of simple questions under controlled conditions! Psychologist Daniel Wegner, professor of psychology at Harvard University and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science has stated that facilitated communication is a striking example of the ideomotor effect, and tests of FC show that it is a complete fraud, farce, and delusion!

 

    Please, Dr. Snyderman, may we hear from you, in light of what appears here?

 

 

non-working link: http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-...as-to-stop.html

[TheBruceter]

It reminds me of the song "One" by Metallica...

 

That'd be living hell.

Thats what i was thinking

 

Dam that would be rough

[Exkabewbikadid]

 

You heard this was all a scam right? It didn't actually happen.

 

 

Site is down right now but:

 

 

 

    I'm enraged. Several perceptive persons have sent me to msnbc.com - where we can see Dr. Nancy Snyderman relating a story. It's a heartrender, described thus by Dr. Snyderman: A mother [in Belgium] says her son has emerged from what doctors thought was a vegetative state to say he was fully conscious for 23 years but could not respond because he was paralyzed.

 

    No, that is not what the man said, Dr. Snyderman. That's what an incompetent layperson typed for him! I ask you to first go to http://tinyurl.com/y8lku48, and note the section of the video from 12 to 35 seconds, then come back here.

 

    This is yet another obvious example of abysmal, practiced, purposeful ignorance by medical personnel - including Dr. Snyderman and her staff who prepared this piece. I cannot understand how anyone, professional medical person or layman, can continue to believe that the farce known as "Facilitated Communication" [FC] represents anything other than a fantasy that was begun back in 1977, when an Australian woman named Rosemary Crossley came up with the idea that autistic persons could express their thoughts via a keyboard when their hand was "supported" by what she called a "facilitator." In 1989, Douglas Biklen, a sociologist and professor of special education at Syracuse University, eagerly took up her cause, and as a result vast sums were donated to SU by friends and family members of autism victims - money that was simply wasted in futile "research."

 

    I personally investigated this matter. In March of 1992 I was contacted by Dr. Anne M. Donnellan, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who asked if I would be willing to participate in an investigation of FC as used with autistic children. I was already familiar with FC, and suggested to her that I felt the researchers were perhaps under the influence of the Clever Hans Effect [CHE], also known as the "ideomotor effect," in which the trainer - the facilitator in this case - was unconsciously transmitting the information to the autistic child. This possibility was emphatically denied by Dr. Donnellan, and I was assured that every care had been taken to ensure that the CHE was not in operation. The Clever Hans Effect is notorious in psychology. Early in the last century, a horse named Clever Hans - in German, der Kluge Hans - was claimed to have been able to perform arithmetic and other simple intellectual tasks. In 1907, psychologist Oskar Pfungst showed conclusively that the horse was not actually performing these mental tasks, but was reacting to cues provided by his trainer.

 

    My tests of autistic children at the University of Wisconsin-Madison clearly showed that FC was simply a tragic farce. My findings were totally ignored. The full account of this matter will be discussed in detail in my next book, A Magician in the Laboratory.

 

    The "facilitated communication" process consists of the "facilitator" actually holding the hand of the subject over the keyboard, moving the hand to the key, then drawing the hand back from the keyboard! This very intimate participatory action lends itself very easily to transferring the intended information to the computer screen. In the video you have just viewed, it is very evident that (a) the "facilitator" is looking directly at the keyboard and the screen, and (b) is moving the subject's hand. The video editing is also biased, giving angles that line up the head of the subject with the screen, as if the subject were watching the screen.

 

    This man in the msnbc.com piece is not seeing the screen. He is not aware of what is going on. He is an unknowing victim of these charlatans. A simple test - such as that done on October 19th, 1993, in a Frontline (PBS) documentary highlighting these concerns, "Prisoners of Silence," would prove that FC is a total fraud. This powerful and comprehensive program proved that FC was a delusion.

 

    Dr. Snyderman, how did this get by you? The evidence is right there on the screen! Others have solved this fraud. The Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Association on Mental Retardation, have no doubts about this. ABAI calls FC a "discredited technique" and warns that "its use is unwarranted and unethical." The Association for Science in Autism Treatment reviewed the research and position statements and concluded that the messages typed were controlled by the facilitator, not by the individual with autism, and that FC did not improve language skills.

 

    We critics of FC question why people can apparently give speeches in public - via a keyboard and a "facilitator" - and go to college - similarly "assisted" - yet they cannot answer a series of simple questions under controlled conditions! Psychologist Daniel Wegner, professor of psychology at Harvard University and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science has stated that facilitated communication is a striking example of the ideomotor effect, and tests of FC show that it is a complete fraud, farce, and delusion!

 

    Please, Dr. Snyderman, may we hear from you, in light of what appears here?

 

 

non-working link: http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-...as-to-stop.html

tl:dr version for all of you dumb asses who will just skip this:

 

Basically some medical personnel took advantage of a guy in a coma. Watch the video and it's clear that the woman is moving the man's hand and pushing all the buttons for him. How could anyone do that and keep a straight face?

 

 

That's the 3rd time I've been duped by internet bullsh*t. First there was mavav.org, then catspiders and now this. f*ck me.

 

Edit- that site is back up and after looking through the comments, I'd say there's still an outside chance the guy wasn't in a coma. The video looks rather convincing that it's a fraud though.

[Rebel]

Heh, I wondered why the guy was getting his fingers smashed into that box so he could talk. Plus that woman who was doing it looked pretty pissed off if I remember right.

[Carnage1120]

Wouldn't his body deteriorate after 23 years of laying on a bed

[Vanilla Shake]

Wouldn't his body deteriorate after 23 years of laying on a bed

Look 2 posts above yours.

[Saggy]

Wouldn't his body deteriorate after 23 years of laying on a bed

 

Yeah, just look.. His eyelids have deteriorated to the point where he can see through them.

 

 

Seriously though, MSNBC put this on air? Wow... I think there's a new Fox News on the block.

[gtathebest4ever]

23 years just lying in a bed completely conscious? That's almost my whole life. Terrible. Good thing they finally found out about him, but makes you think how many other cases are there like this?

[arsenal_fan]

Would be like stuck in concrete stature of yourself and people talk around u and about u and you yell that your inside but no one knows ur in there, for 23 years! Scary thought, i would have gone absolutely insane.

[chris]

Sexual frustration springs to mind. I would rather be dead.

[HolyGrenadeFrenzy]

 

You heard this was all a scam right? It didn't actually happen.

 

 

Site is down right now but:

 

 

 

    I'm enraged. Several perceptive persons have sent me to msnbc.com - where we can see Dr. Nancy Snyderman relating a story. It's a heartrender, described thus by Dr. Snyderman: A mother [in Belgium] says her son has emerged from what doctors thought was a vegetative state to say he was fully conscious for 23 years but could not respond because he was paralyzed.

 

    No, that is not what the man said, Dr. Snyderman. That's what an incompetent layperson typed for him! I ask you to first go to http://tinyurl.com/y8lku48, and note the section of the video from 12 to 35 seconds, then come back here.

 

    This is yet another obvious example of abysmal, practiced, purposeful ignorance by medical personnel - including Dr. Snyderman and her staff who prepared this piece. I cannot understand how anyone, professional medical person or layman, can continue to believe that the farce known as "Facilitated Communication" [FC] represents anything other than a fantasy that was begun back in 1977, when an Australian woman named Rosemary Crossley came up with the idea that autistic persons could express their thoughts via a keyboard when their hand was "supported" by what she called a "facilitator." In 1989, Douglas Biklen, a sociologist and professor of special education at Syracuse University, eagerly took up her cause, and as a result vast sums were donated to SU by friends and family members of autism victims - money that was simply wasted in futile "research."

 

    I personally investigated this matter. In March of 1992 I was contacted by Dr. Anne M. Donnellan, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who asked if I would be willing to participate in an investigation of FC as used with autistic children. I was already familiar with FC, and suggested to her that I felt the researchers were perhaps under the influence of the Clever Hans Effect [CHE], also known as the "ideomotor effect," in which the trainer - the facilitator in this case - was unconsciously transmitting the information to the autistic child. This possibility was emphatically denied by Dr. Donnellan, and I was assured that every care had been taken to ensure that the CHE was not in operation. The Clever Hans Effect is notorious in psychology. Early in the last century, a horse named Clever Hans - in German, der Kluge Hans - was claimed to have been able to perform arithmetic and other simple intellectual tasks. In 1907, psychologist Oskar Pfungst showed conclusively that the horse was not actually performing these mental tasks, but was reacting to cues provided by his trainer.

 

    My tests of autistic children at the University of Wisconsin-Madison clearly showed that FC was simply a tragic farce. My findings were totally ignored. The full account of this matter will be discussed in detail in my next book, A Magician in the Laboratory.

 

    The "facilitated communication" process consists of the "facilitator" actually holding the hand of the subject over the keyboard, moving the hand to the key, then drawing the hand back from the keyboard! This very intimate participatory action lends itself very easily to transferring the intended information to the computer screen. In the video you have just viewed, it is very evident that (a) the "facilitator" is looking directly at the keyboard and the screen, and (b) is moving the subject's hand. The video editing is also biased, giving angles that line up the head of the subject with the screen, as if the subject were watching the screen.

 

    This man in the msnbc.com piece is not seeing the screen. He is not aware of what is going on. He is an unknowing victim of these charlatans. A simple test - such as that done on October 19th, 1993, in a Frontline (PBS) documentary highlighting these concerns, "Prisoners of Silence," would prove that FC is a total fraud. This powerful and comprehensive program proved that FC was a delusion.

 

    Dr. Snyderman, how did this get by you? The evidence is right there on the screen! Others have solved this fraud. The Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Association on Mental Retardation, have no doubts about this. ABAI calls FC a "discredited technique" and warns that "its use is unwarranted and unethical." The Association for Science in Autism Treatment reviewed the research and position statements and concluded that the messages typed were controlled by the facilitator, not by the individual with autism, and that FC did not improve language skills.

 

    We critics of FC question why people can apparently give speeches in public - via a keyboard and a "facilitator" - and go to college - similarly "assisted" - yet they cannot answer a series of simple questions under controlled conditions! Psychologist Daniel Wegner, professor of psychology at Harvard University and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science has stated that facilitated communication is a striking example of the ideomotor effect, and tests of FC show that it is a complete fraud, farce, and delusion!

 

    Please, Dr. Snyderman, may we hear from you, in light of what appears here?

 

 

non-working link: http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-...as-to-stop.html

tl:dr version for all of you dumb asses who will just skip this:

 

Basically some medical personnel took advantage of a guy in a coma. Watch the video and it's clear that the woman is moving the man's hand and pushing all the buttons for him. How could anyone do that and keep a straight face?

 

 

That's the 3rd time I've been duped by internet bullsh*t. First there was mavav.org, then catspiders and now this. f*ck me.

 

Edit- that site is back up and after looking through the comments, I'd say there's still an outside chance the guy wasn't in a coma. The video looks rather convincing that it's a fraud though.

The rest of you f*cks need to listen every time Xcommunicated or Digïtál £vîl post anything, not to say that they or anyone is perfect yet for the sake of not raving on and on.

 

These two like many others are rather reliable.

 

Get down with it!