Thread: Man conscious for entire 23 year coma.

Man Trapped In 23-Year 'Coma' Was Conscious

An engineering student thought to be in a coma for 23 years was actually conscious the whole time, it has emerged.

Case is likely to renew the right-to-die debate



Rom Houben was misdiagnosed as being in a vegetative state after a car crash left him totally paralysed.

For the whole time, he was trapped in his own body with no way of letting friends and family know he could hear every word they were saying.

The 46-year-old, who can now tap out computerised messages and read books on a device above his hospital bed, has revealed: "I screamed, but there was nothing to hear.

"All that time I literally dreamed of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt.

"I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me - it was my second birth.

"I want to read, talk with my friends via the computer and enjoy life now people know I am not dead."


I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me - it was my second birth.

Rom Houben

His misdiagnosis was discovered by neurological expert Dr Steven Laureys, who fears there may be similar cases all over the world.

He looked at Mr Houben's case again at the University of Liege, Belgium, using state-of-the-art imaging that showed the patient was aware of what was happening around him even though he had lost control of his body.

Dr Laureys, who leads the Coma Science Group, was unavailable for comment when contacted by Sky News Online.

He told the Daily Telegraph: "In Germany alone each year some 100,000 people suffer from severe traumatic brain injury.

"About 20,000 are followed by a coma of three weeks or longer. Some of them die, others regain health.



Dr Steven Laureys

"But an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people a year, remain trapped in an intermediate stage: they go on living without ever come back again."

Rom, a martial arts enthusiast who remains in constant care at a facility near Brussels, was repeatedly wrongly assessed in Zolder, Belgium, by doctors using technology available at the time.

They used the internationally accepted Glasgow Coma Scale to assess his eye, verbal and motor responses. But each time he was graded incorrectly.

The disclosure is likely to renew the right-to-die debate over whether people in comas are truly unconscious.

There have been several cases where people in deep comas have recovered.

Carrie Coons, 86, from New York, regained consciousness 20 years ago.

Days before her recovery, a judge had granted a request for the removal of her feeding tube which had been keeping her alive

Rom Houben: Man Trapped In 23-Year Coma In Belgium Was Conscious Whole Time | World News | Sky News

Poor bugger.

Good movie on this type of thing with that actor from 'Ed' in it.

Puhaa what an awful situation for this poor guy, it must have been unimaginable frustrating and horrific for him, great though that he now have some measure of life quality back, and can communicate and read books.

It seems there is actually a fate worse than death and this poor chap had to go through it for 23 years. Unimaginable indeed.

If he isn't completely batshit crazy by now it will be a miracle.

Poor bloke, 23 years... imagine the boredom!!!

Originally Posted by slackula

It seems there is actually a fate worse than death and this poor chap had to go through it for 23 years. Unimaginable indeed.

If he isn't completely batshit crazy by now it will be a miracle.

Some go through their whole lives in this catatonic state. You hadn't notice? Look around....

Originally Posted by Rural Surin

Some go through their whole lives in this catatonic state. You hadn't notice? Look around....

We're not talking about Thais.

I am sometimes certain that i am actually in a coma and have been for the past five years. If i am correct, could someone get the nurse to massage the pressure sores on my arse.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Originally Posted by Rural Surin

Some go through their whole lives in this catatonic state. You hadn't notice? Look around....

We're not talking about Thais.

Thanks...but I wasn't, Marmers.

I suppose that in the end it all comes down to money, but you would think that all neurosurgical units would have state-of-the-art imaging that would show the exact situation, and the expertise available to understand the data.

Just imagine the poor sods who have been able to understand the bedside conversations of having their life support machines switched off and not being able to speak.

Stories like this should terrify you into getting your will sorted out - the thought of being trapped years inside of my own dead body while my f'd up family & medical vampires make decisions for me...yikes, is there a lawyer in the house?

I don't know what to feel for this poor chap other than horror, dread and abject pity. It's hard to imagine a more tortuous state of being.

I don't know... 23 years, you'd think he'd at some point succumb to his fate and maybe start enjoying it.

But sounds like he remained trapped all this time. Not in his bed, in his mind. Like most of us are.

Originally Posted by slackula

Bluntly, if I were in that situation I'd be hoping for them to switch the machines off.

23 years of somebody coming in to give you a bed bath and change you colostomy bag or whatever daily while you were fully conscious but unable to communicate?

*shudder*

No thank you. I am happy that they have found out that this guy is alert and he now has a way to communicate and read books but there is no way I would want to go through 23 years of that hell, it would be far, far worse than being an oblivious vegetable.

Personally I think I'd rather just die than endure that for 23 days let alone years.

Maybe he had some sexy little bint who was a devious nympho and was jumpin his bones on a daily basis..........

Originally Posted by Chairman Mao

They used the internationally accepted Glasgow Coma Scale

So named after the study of thousands of local citizens after closing time on Friday nights

No kidding that interferes with the right to die mob...

Reminds me of that song by metalica, one.

A really horrible experience I don't wish on anybody.

But if people would think rationally it should not interfere with the right to die debate.

You must recognize that the coma was diagnosed 23 years ago and that the diagnose probably was not rechecked for a long time.

If it were a right to die case the diagnose would be doublechecked thoroughly.

Originally Posted by slackula

It seems there is actually a fate worse than death and this poor chap had to go through it for 23 years. Unimaginable indeed.

If he isn't completely batshit crazy by now it will be a miracle.

It's pretty god-awful to hear about this.

Like being in solitary confinement or pinned into a body that's keeping you a silent prisoner.

To say you've lost your freedom is an understatement...

My Bro has foolishly said If he lost a leg he'd kill himself, if that coma happened to him I think he'd be barking mad as a hatter! :O

Originally Posted by tsicar

me too. for me there would be no greater torture than to be totally dependent on others; to be so incapacitated as to lack even the abilty to pull the trigger myself, thereby ending the suffering of those who might feel responsible for keeping me alive.

This!

I crashed a bike and put my beloved wife through a pretty hard time of me being in and out of consciousness for an hour or two followed by a period of concussion, when I finally started making sense (as much as I do) again about 2 days later the worry on her face was enough to a) stop me riding bikes and b) make a living will. I learned a lot from that experience.

I can't begin to imagine the stress that this guy and his family have gone through, and to find out that after 23 years he was awake the whole time.. holy crap..

There is no reason why this should have happened except for gross incompetence on the doctors parts. Brain scans would have told them right away he was not in a coma. The Glasgow Coma Scale they apparently chose to use instead is a quick and very rudimentary assessment tool used in the emergency wards and by Paramedics to make an initial assessment of the patients level of consciousness. Certainly not something any competent neurologist would solely rely on.

Slack and StronDog have said it for me.
I have a living will, No fucking machines,,EVER,, No resuscitation EVER,,But that does not mean that they will go by that either here or anywhere else for damn sure.
I am at a point right now where I am ready to go, I can not live my life as I once did, so many things I can not do now, but still a lot I can but i can not live life as I have done and want to do again.
When I do something, like walk 6 paces across the living room and 4 steps down into the kitchen, I have to go slow, I can not jump my scoot and head off to town and shop, I can not get far from an Oxygen supply or concentrator, I have spent $6,000 here in the last short time for Oxy concentrators, both wall plugged and portable battery operated models, Plus bottled Ox and flow meters, even in our car and never know when will have to hook up to some or be OK with atmos air.

I am ready now, but it just ain't time yet, I lose one more thing and life will not be worth living at all, and I only have a little I can do in the house and when that is lost too then I want the fuck outta here.

Imagine what he was thinking when the gay orderly came in each night...

Originally Posted by Nawty

Imagine what he was thinking when the gay orderly came in each night...

Well, maybe he just got a blowjob each night.
Sure beat the hell out what would have happen if ButterFly was going in there every evening, poor bastard would not be able to shit in the top of a wash tub now.