Automobile Accident Victim Trapped in Coma for 23 Years Was Conscious

A couple of years ago the Georgia Injury Lawyers at Finch McCranie LLP, represented the family of a young boy who fell from a civic center stage to the concrete floor below. Within moments the boy had slipped into a coma. With limited resources, the parents cared for their son in the living room of their home, 24-hours a day. As time went one and the boy ended up back in the hospital, officials there put more and more pressure upon the parents to remove the boy from life support. The parents refused to do so and the young boy eventually died as a result of his brain injury.
The facts of every case are certainly different; however, recent news out of Brussels, Belgium give one pause when it comes to making such a decision now. Recently made public in various newspapers and on internet sites throughout the world is the story of Rom Houben, a 46-year old man who was involved in an automobile accident 26 years ago. Up until 3 years ago, this man was thought to be in a vegetative state, but thanks to new brain scanning technology, they discovered that not only was his brain functioning properly but it was almost operating normally. Doctors used a state-of-the-art scanning system which demonstrated the almost normal brain functioning. Houben said that even though his body was paralyzed and he was unable to communicate, he heard every word that was said in his presence. Dr. Steven Laureys, a neurologist at the University of Liege in Belgium has published a new study that states Mr. Houben could be one of many misdiagnosed coma cases in the world. With this new information, the decision to discontinue life support of an accident victim in a coma would be exceedingly difficult for a family.