Man In Coma For 23 Years Can Now Communicate!
You may recall a few months ago this story of a man trapped in a coma. For 23 years trapped in his body without the ability to talk to friends and family. They found a way for him to communicate. Dr. Steven Laureys has used new medical advances to help him. Regular doctors scoffed at the idea but now Rom Houben (the man thought to be in a coma) has a new life. He is able to type out messages with a little help from an assistant. Here are some of the things he has said.
I screamed, but there was nothing to hear
I dreamed myself away
All that time I just literally dreamed of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt
His family always knew he was in there. What a beautiful story.
There is only one small problem… IT IS ALL SHIT! They used a process called facilitated communication. A helper or assistant simply supports the hand or arm of the person that can’t communicate and Viola – they can point and even type. The sad part is that it does not work. All it takes is a simple test. Just ask the person that needs help some questions, with the assistant out of the room. Let the assistant back in and see what happens. After many weeks of thinking that the facilitated communication was working they finally did a simple test.
Now this is a very sad story. It is so easy for humans to allow ourselves to be tricked.
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This was a little confusing from the title. Was the intent to give readers some mild sense of the overwhelming frustration the family felt when they realized they were being manipulated? What happened to the people who perpetrated this fraud? Who paid for it all?
Sad. Have heard of this before. FC is such a ripoff, and so cruel to family members.