Rom Houben
Rom Houben is a Belgian man believed to be comatose and in a
Caregivers claimed that Houben was able to use
Controversy
While Houben was diagnosed with locked-in syndrome in 2006, his case was first reported in a
The method used to allegedly communicate with Houben is known as "
Additionally, Arthur Caplan, a bioethics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, has stated that the statements Houben allegedly made through his facilitator seemed unnatural for someone disabled and unable to speak for decades.[8][16] Through Wouters, Houben is quoted as saying "Now I can communicate and talk via facilitated communication. Not everyone believes in this form of communication. It is a controversial method but, for me, it is vital to life. At last, my views can be heard and my feelings expressed."[17]
Laureys stated that he had verified that the facilitated communication was genuine, by showing Houben objects when the facilitator was not present in the room, and later asking Houben to recall those objects.[17] Novella suggested that Laureys had not used proper controls.[14]
In an interview with the Belgian newspaper De Standaard, Laureys stated that he was not involved in the choice of communication method and refused to comment on its validity. He stated that he was "a skeptic [himself]" and that "the bad reputation of some forms [of facilitated communication] is justified". He also stated that Houben's case was only made public because Der Spiegel wanted to report on his study and was looking for a "human element" to the story: "I knew that Rom and his family were willing to collaborate because they had done so before [for a Flemish TV channel]." Laureys also criticized some of the negative feedback for "judging the evidence only on the basis of some video footage" and stated that "given time, we will look scientifically into the different ways of communication. For us, this seems to be the proper way."[18]
Laureys later concluded that messages attributed to Houben through Wouters' facilitation were not coming from Houben. Using a different facilitator, fifteen objects which were shown to Houben over a period of weeks, and Houben was unable to communicate knowledge of any of the objects which had been shown to him during the facilitator's absence.[3][19] Novella attributed Laureys' prior error to likely insufficient experience with facilitated communication.[3]
Philosophical perspectives
Houben's case has been used to question the current methods of diagnosing vegetative state and to arguments against withholding care from such patients.
See also
- Clever Hans – 20th-century horse claimed to have been able to do mathematics
References
- ^ "Paralysed Belgian misdiagnosed as in coma for 23 years". BBC News. 24 November 2009. Retrieved 24 November 2009.
- ^ Raf Casert (23 November 2009). "Rom Houben, man in coma for 23 years, was fully conscious, mom says". The Huffington Post.
- ^ National Public Radio. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
But further tests show the man, Rom Houben, was unable to correctly identify simple words and objects presented to him by researchers, his neurologist Steven Laureys tells NPR's Jon Hamilton.
- ^ a b Kate Connolly (23 November 2009). "Car crash victim trapped in 'coma' for 23 years was conscious". guardian.co.uk.
- National Public Radio.
- ^ a b Video showing facilitated communication with Rom Houben (video). MSNBC. Event occurs at 0:12. Archived from the original on 26 November 2009.
- ^ PMID 19622138.)
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ a b Brandon Keim (24 November 2009). "Reborn coma man's words may be bogus". Wired Science. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
- Spiegel Online(in German).
- ^ Manfred Dworschak (23 November 2009). "„Meine zweite Geburt"". Der Spiegel 48/2009, pp. 134-137.
- ^ Arthur Caplan (24 November 2009). Coherent after coma? Not so sure. NBC News. Retrieved on 29 November 2009.
- ^ PZ Myers (24 November 2009). "Really? This guy is conscious? Archived 27 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ James Randi (25 November 2009). "This cruel farce has to stop!". James Randi Educational Foundation.
- ^ a b Steven Novella (25 November 2009). Man in Coma 23 Years – Is He Really Conscious?. Retrieved on 29 November 2009.
- ^ "Belgian coma man was awake for 23 years". ninemsn. 24 November 2009.
- ^ Associated Press (24 November 2009). "Man says emergence from 'coma' like rebirth". Retrieved 24 November 2009.
- ^ a b David Charter (25 November 2009). "Mystery as coma survivor Rom Houben finds voice at his fingertips". Times Online.
- ^ Filip Salmon (28 November 2009). "Rom is geen circusnummer (Rom is no circus act)". De Standaard. (in Dutch)
- ^ Manfred Dworschak (13 February 2010). "Communicating with those trapped within their brains". Der Spiegel.
- ^ The Huffington Post. Retrieved on 29 November 2009.