Nov 23 2009
A pure nightmare: in a coma yet still conscious
Makes you think twice about pulling the plug too fast, doesn’t it:
A car crash victim has spoken of the horror he endured for 23 years after he was misdiagnosed as being in a coma when he was conscious the whole time.
Rom Houben, trapped in his paralysed body after a car crash, described his real-life nightmare as he screamed to doctors that he could hear them – but could make no sound.
‘I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,’ said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegatative state.
No related posts.
The possibility of this occuring should be much lower now, for those with access to modern medical technology – the scans are better than they’ve ever been. Shame the article doesn’t give more information on exactly what type of test was used – I assume some variation of either EEG or fMRI, as you couldn’t re-diagnose like that without functional information that a structure-only scan like CAT just wouldn’t reveal.
For crying out loud I sure *hope* the odds are low. It’s not quite like pulling out the wrong rotten tooth by mistake.