BRUSSELS — For 23 torturous years, Rom Houben says he lay trapped in his paralyzed body, aware of what was going on around him but unable to tell anyone or even cry out.
The car-crash victim had been diagnosed as being in a vegetative state but appears to have been conscious the whole time. An expert using a specialized type of brain scan that was not available in the 1980s finally realized it, and unlocked Houben’s mind again. The 46-year-old Houben is now communicating with one finger and a special touchscreen on his wheelchair.
“Powerlessness. Utter powerlessness. At first I was angry, then I learned to live with it,” he said, punching the message into the screen during an interview with the Belgian RTBF network, aired Monday. He has called his rescue his “renaissance.” Over the years, Houben’s family refused to accept the word of his doctors, firmly believing their son knew what was happening around him, and gave no thought to letting him die, said his mother, Fina. She was vindicated when the breakthrough came.
“At that moment, you think, `Oh, my God. See, now you know.’ I was always convinced,” she said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. During Houben’s two lost decades, his eyesight was poor, but the experts say he could hear doctors, nurses and visitors to his bedside, and feel the touch of a relative. He says that during that time, he heard his father had died, but he was unable to show any emotion.
Wow, that is one dedicated family…..thanks, mom.
I call B.S.
http://wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/houben-communication/
This claim is disputed.
http://tinyurl.com/ylod3ux
BS or not, I feel the same way.
1 & 2
I know what you guys mean. First thing that popped in my head when I saw her hands on his when he was typing on the pad was a wigi board. Same principle, it’s sad but it looks like she’s fooling herself.
Yep, Complete B.S.
Facilitated communication is complete B.S.
I feel sorry for the family.
Either way it gives false hope to many families. There are currently some questions of validity for functional MRI interpretation.
And another article questioning the facilitated communication bit.
http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=1286
He may very well be conciousness, that sounds believeable to me if the tests were done properly, the perfect and lucid communication done by someone holding his hand and looking at the keyboard? To quote a popular ad series in NZ. Yeah, Riiigght.
He could be tested in a low tech way: Have him experience something (see, hear, feel) while the mother is not present. When she is there ask her to help him describe his experience.
Fascinating story on TV last night, and then I saw that lady holding his hand to type….ahhh, don’t think so.
#7, good idea. Though if the mother *is* faking her son’s responses, she’ll make up some excuse why he can’t answer the question.
#9 Rob – Then it’s as good as an admission to observers. However the mother would probably convince herself otherwise. Which is alright. She should be free to believe what she believes. The problem is like #5 sez, “Either way it gives false hope to many families.”, and that’s who the test would be performed for.
There are simple non-invasive neurological scans that are capable of detecting consciousness.
If I am ever trapped in my body exactly like that, please kill me. Consious or not.
#6
They did test him – they showed him an object when his therapist wasn’t in the room; after therapist came back he did describe it correctly.
No BS here
Wow #13, I think the coma guy has a bridge to sell you as well
Can you just imagine the hell ones life would be if you were in a coma and aware of what was going on around you…
Then yet again, would it really be a coma then, wouldn’t it be more along the lines of severe paralysis?
How difficult is it to read him a sentence and ask him to signal yes or no depending upon agreement with that sentence?
RBG
No, he was a vegetable. Why didn’t they pull the plug?
he sounds kinda like the republican party….
or is it he sound like the opposite of the current state of the republicans???
His eyes were blinking. Is that normal for coma victims?
Too often denial will have the denier imagining things that just aren’t true. We see this continually in politics with the Tea Baggers and anti-Climate Change crowd. It was also so evident during the whole Terry Schiavo mess.
The family so wants him to not be brain damaged they will imagine he is cognizant when in actual fact he is merely brain dead and it is the facilitator moving his hand.
If one remembers during the Terry Schiavo episode, TV reports were all playing the same six seconds of Schiavo moving her head out of a total of 73 minutes of recording. This was looped over and over again and again. Then again. Those who wanted Schiavo to be cognizant claimed those six seconds were actual recognition when in fact they were totally random.
#20, skeptic,
There is a difference between a vegetative state and coma. In a vegetative state the brain is basically dead and will generally atrophy (shrink). Most functions, ie breathing, heart beating, etc, are done autonomically (reflex).
In comas the brain is full and functioning although it is damaged. Some coma patients can hear and relate the conversations although they can not react to physical stimuli.
There will always be exceptions, but a vegetative state is usually caused by a lack of oxygen or an overdose of a stimulant such as potassium killing large portions of the brain. A coma is usually caused by a physical injury.
In this case, while there may have been an injury, during the rescue or treatment, his brain could have been deprived of oxygen.
5. ApatheticAlto.
“Before his accident in November 1983, the then-young man spoke four languages, French, Dutch, English and a bit of German, said Dr. Steven Laureys of Liege University.
“Today, he is still capable of communicating in these languages,” he added. He intends to write a book about his extraordinary story.”
-Agence France-Presse
Damn, those facilitated communications caregivers must be good.
“Houben’s case is by no means unique.”
-Agence France-Presse.
Don’t you just know that the folks who actively supported “euthenizing” all the Houbens bitched the most about executions.
RBG
#23, RBG,
As you probably know, or not, speaking several languages is not uncommon for Europeans. Most speak their native language and learn English, German, French, Italian, and even Russian in school.
As for Houben’s case, other than the care giver, is there any evidence he is not still in a vegetative state? Something that is testable. Something more concrete than watching a video of the caregiver guiding his hand?
The problem is, without stimulation a brain loses it cognitive functions and memory. It is highly doubtful anyone could communicate after not communicating for 23 years in clear language, with proper conjugation, spelling, and grammar.
But hey, don’t let reasoning, science, and rational logic get in your way of embracing a “miracle”.
24. Mr. F: You mean like technology that can show normal brain activity and logic like there’s a whole pile of such people routinely put down?
RBG
#26, RBG,
You have seldom appreciated the science before, why should I expect you to change now?
Please give us some examples of people routinely put down. I’m not asking for those with normal brain scans, although you might include them, just “put down”.
Yes, I slept-walked through my BSc.
Oh? you know which ones had normal brain scans? That’s one over the doctors quoted in the article then.
RBG
I call BS! If it was me, my first words would be: KILL ME!
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