Man in Misdiagnosed Coma Was Awake for 23 Years

“I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,” taps 46-year-old Rom Houben on his computer. Mr. Houben was in a car crash and lived in a paralyzed state for 23 years, fully conscious but not able to make a sound. Misdiagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state, he “dreamed himself away.”

Three years ago, Dr. Steven Laureys used a new high-tech scan which revealed that Louben’s brain was still functioning almost completely normally. “I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me — it was my second birth,” taps Houben. Houben now enjoys using the computer to communicate with his friends and has a new life.

Louben’s case, of course, illustrates the fallacy of giving up on people who have brain damage such as the tragedy of Terri Schiavo. Laureys, a German doctor, writes in his published study that patients classed as in a vegetative state are often misdiagnosed. New imaging techniques should give physicians the tools to diagnose correctly and avoid another Rom Houben.

Barbara Lyons