Man Conscious during 23-Year Coma

[Musicmonk84]

Wow! That is so crazy.

[kalloused]

for 23 years he was conscious screaming in his head "OH PLEASE GOD SOMEBODY SCRATCH THE BACK OF MY LEG!!!! IT FUCKING ITCHES SO BAD!!"

[snarkydoc]

And why is she so focused on the keyboard? She shpuld be able to do this with her eyes closed! He's 'typing' isnt he?

[snarkydoc]

So his eyes are closed, but yet he's typing so fast??

[grundik1]

Fucking ridicules. If this was so, 23 years of this agony... Let the guy die in peace...

[cristobalm2010]

Facilitation is complete PSEUDOSCIENCE.

They did that with autistic children in the USA. Shortly after it started, all these cases of molestation of autistic children started showing up. But guess what, the testimony of the child was a facilitated testimony.

When all the dust settled, these children weren't molested and facilitation was correctly labeled as the pseudoscience it is.

It's amazing people still believe this crap.

CBS News is lame to post a bogus story like this.

[bodinian]

Watch "One" by Metallica. You will see exactly what is inhumane about keeping people who are in this state alive when there is no hope for recovery. When there is recovery, we need people to become aware of this earlier with specific consciousness tests.

[EmilyGreene1984]

@bodinian First of all, if someone was in a similar state but unable to declare they want to live - one would do everything in their power to help such a person. Secondly and most importantly, assisted suicide is murder.

[Carleeeeny]

@EmilyGreene1984 Assisted suicide isn't murder. Voluntary euthanasia (ie someone saying "I'm in a lot of pain and I want to die on my own terms") isn't murder because it's what that person wants. Sometimes it's the better option. You can't just loop it all together when every case is different. If they can't make the choice then it should be up to someone who knows exactly what that individual would want. Personally I'd rather die quickly than spend 23 years unable to move, speak or do anything.

[randomscience1]

Never assume those in a coma can't hear you, or know what is going on around them. I was mugged in my apartment parking lot and left for dead. I was in a coma for weeks but could hear everything and struggled to open my eyes always. I could move them under my eyelids but that was all.

After many weeks I made a full recovery. This story is chilling.

[JakeJohnsonAKAJdogg]

wow that would have been sooooo boring...

[TorrieWilsonFan456]

Wouldn't you be starving or thirsty??? I'm confused about comas

[TorrieWilsonFan456]

@monnkey12 im just trolling!

[jdspringr07]

@TorrieWilsonFan456 You're a bad troll. You never reveal your intent moron.

[TorrieWilsonFan456]

@jdspringr07 uh what the hell did i do to you?

[kittykatwuzhere]

@monnkey12 my friend doesnt know what trolling is niether do socan u tell us what that means

[monnkey12]

@kittykatwuzhere Trolling is where you get a troll and start rolling

[kittykatwuzhere]

@monnkey12 oh did u get that from R.W.J?

[jdspringr07]

@TorrieWilsonFan456 Have you ever heard of an IV line and food tubes?

[TorrieWilsonFan456]

@jdspringr07 oh yeah i've heard of food tubes, what does IV stand for again?

[DudleyaSetchellii]

So. Now are you liberals ashamed of what you did with Terry Schiavo?

You Prgressives and your eugenics hatin policies. You encouraged Hitler and the deaths of millions of unborn.

[cthorste]

Facilitated communication has been disproved over and over and over and over again. This man might be fully aware, but these messages might not be his at all.

[commy9191]

His fucking eyes are closed..

[KennyandGretel]

God, he must have been so bored!

[dimseeeen]

"a care was trained to interpret the tiny movements that he makes with his finger..." trained like a dog? she wasnt trained... she was the one doing the talking. wat a big scam for publicity... sadder yet, ppl believe in it

[Funnycat00lexus04]

ads? in MY YOUTUBE?

[swedenrockrules]

shit, he has got to be hungry

[Julian201987]

BULLSH*T

[babbsiscool]

If you watch the whole thing, he can move and he can see to some extent.

[1337BananaL33TVostok]

how do tehy make screen half?

[onoringo]

how can he write so fluently in dutch when it is assumed that he is a walloon like his mother? basically, i dont understand why he would not be typing in french (his mother does not respond in dutch for a dutch interviewer, why does he type in dutch for this facilitator?)

[TheMarcus3939]

that blonde is way too hot to be a doctor,

[muimrm]

@TheMarcus3939

I am 99% sure she doesn't deserve the title.

[r22k10]

This is charlatanism and emotional manipulation taken to an extreme. Someone should find a way to actually let the man communicate, so that he can tell the evil woman moving his hand around to screw herself!

[Aaron518]

Holy crap,thats aweful they way this report acts like that facilitated communication is actually him talking. When I saw the earlier videos of this guy and saw that I was like "Oh noooo!" but seeing this one where his eyes AREN'T EVEN OPEN and shes moving his hand around at lightning speed just makes it even more horrific.

[janeyanna]

Amazing how he can guide the facilitator's hand over the key board with his eyes closed... *sarcasm*

I can't argue with the PET-Scan, but what he 'says'... well, that's clearly bullshit.

[aymanazihan]

i remember back when youtube had no advertisements on their videos, before or during, the ones that pop up on the bottom, which are the most annoying.

[robelp91]

Firefox + AdBlock Plus = no commercials or ads whatsoever.

[aymanazihan]

@robelp91 is it an add-on? cause i already use firefox myself.

[robelp91]

Yes, it is an add-on. As a matter of fact, I believe it is the most popular add-on on Firefox. After you install it, just remember to pick the US subscription list so that it will automatically block plenty of ads, as well as prevent youtube from loading those commercials.

[aymanazihan]

@robelp91 appreciate for the tip.

[DanMan111991]

I dont like what he's using to communicate right now. They should give him the thing Steven Hawkins uses

[thisiswilli]

dammmn, now youtube has advertising before the video -_-

[rtmorphine]

How can people be so gullible as to blindly accept this nonsense? I am amazed by all of the people who stil believe in the scam of "facilitated communication". This poor man has his eyes closed for God sake, how can he type, how can he communicate? Answer: He can't! However, the imbecile who is moving his finger all-over the keyboard can! Please, exercise some critical thought, rather than be duped by whatever you want to believe. Hopefully, these charlatans will be held accountable!

[SpartnPride]

youtube advertisements suck

[rcktman244]

Well you're getting free videos for it, so calm down!

[DDxHellRaiser]

lol

[thisiswilli]

WELL, there is many other ways than putting a fucking annoying forced advertising before the vid.

Google doesn't have such intrusive advertising techniques and still makes billions of dollar.

[rcktman244]

Amen to that, brotherman!

[sgerbic]

I feel so bad for the parents when they discover that their son has been taken advantage of by this falicator. I used to really like Harry Smith, now I'm sorry to hear that he bought into this. This type of "communication" was discreated years ago.

[11moonelf]

Great & long over due news that they have discovered the functioning of his brain. Esp. since PET scan tech. is not new. However the method of facilitating communication needs to change. Using a helper to type in words/data for clients is also not new & is NOT helpful. Bias & intention (even if positive) of the person assisting are huge factors re: what communications are received from patients. It's not objective at all. Hope they have something else available or are at least working on it.

[anooseholay]

Well this is a crock of shit isn't it? The man's eyes are closed and yet he knows where the keys on the keyboard are and what letters/words they trigger. And all this the help of an aide? He's a vegetable.

[lepape2]

Just watch more vids of him. You base all your judgment on a single YOUTUBE video. You know you must not trust everything that you see/read on TV internet and especially, HERE. Just do a couple of research before thinking its another scam.

[wikichris]

Research on hand-holding typing is well known. The onus is on the belgian doctor to prove it's true which he has not done yet.

[branumtc]

while it is wonderful that this man is not vegatative, people need to remember that some people are beyond help. I am happy that this mother never gave up on her child...but people around the world are going to be demanding this test be done, and be broken hearted...all over again... because nothing can be done for their loved ones.

[tigerwoods1974]

...and it's very easy to perform the double-blind study: 1)separate the aide and man with a partition 2) show the man a picture of a bird, and the aide a picture of a cat. 3)Remove the partition and ask them to type out what they saw.4)if they type "bird", then the man is conscious, if they type "cat" then it's the aide's unconscious movement. It's simple science folks.

[tigerwoods1974]

When I first heard about this story I thought it was the greatest feel-good story in a long time but when i saw the video clip of the aide using the now widely discredited facilitating communication, I cringed. Double blind studies have showed that the aide's unconscious movements guide the disabled person's hand around without the aide knowing it. If you take a look, the man's eyes are closed! The only way to verify and validify if the man is truly conscious is to perform a double-blind study.

[BelgianAtheist]

If there was anything to it would indeed transform medical science but it has been investigated years ago already and found thoroughly baseless, tests were done by showing a picture to the disabled person and a different picture to the facilitator, they always wrote the facilitator's picture.

[samurai165]

This is looking more and more like a hoax. I say it should be investigated properly.

[grogtgs]

he went into a coma back in '86. Poor guy

[phildrummer1]

same year metallica brought out the song "ONE" wich goes about being paralized and not being able to do something.

[nogoodbastid]

"one" didn't come out in 1986, and it's not about being paralyzed. it is based on the novel/movie "johnny got his gun" about a man who had his arms, legs, and face blown off, so he has no means of communication.

[allmymarbles]

It is so obvious that the man is not doing the writing. Do those making the video think the viewers are in comas?

[AliBAliCAlidi]

Be Thankful to Allah (God) who gave everybody a body and brain and healthy life,be thankful your now enjoying every day of life

[GamingHell]

fuck off you dirty paki if there was really a god he woudln't have incarcerated a man for 23 years in his own buddy you dirty fucking terrorist.

[UnderTheWig]

Amine

[MST720]

that would be so weird being in a coma for 23 years and then waking up, think of all you would miss out on and how much technology would advance while you were out and who would be born and who would die it would be like.........starting all over

[bati555]

true, why the fuck are you idiots giving this person thumbs down?

[MST720]

I didn't give a thumbds down

[nogoodbastid]

i would imagine the thumbs down is because this guy wasn't sleeping for 23 years and woke up. this story is alleging that he has actually been awake the entire time. so he has watched technology advance.

regardless, this guy isn't actually doing any of the talking. the man's hand is completely paralyzed, he has no control over where the nurse directs his finger. this type of "facilitated communication" has been proven to not work repeatedly. it's the same concept as a ouija board.

[Cholmes3000]

Ridiculous.....so how exactly is he typing with his eye's closed? He's making small moves toward the keys on a screen he can not see? Absurd.

[importsstillsuck]

I don't think his eyes were completely closed, because I saw another report stating his sight was bad, but he could still see.

[mzinfinit]

@Cholmes3000 and a keyboard he has probably never seen ever in his life lol.

[BelgianAtheist]

His eyes are closed while tapping the board? Are they really the words of Rom or of the facilitator?

How about letting his brain talk by using devices that companies like Neural Signals makes.

[recompile]

@BelgianAtheist

The facilitator, of course! This "facilitated writing" nonsense has been debunked long ago.

This whole thing offends my sense of morality.