Rom Houben

Rom Houben (born 1963) is a Belgian man who is in a coma and was falsely thought to have the ability to type through facilitated communication. Houben was thought to be comatose and in a vegetative state for 23 years after a near-fatal automobile accident. However, many caregivers said he was conscious and paralyzed during the entirety of his hospital stay.[1][2]

In 2010, the claim that Houben was able to talk was rejected when communication could not be repeated with a different facilitator and by hiding the object to be identified from the view of the facilitator.[3]

References

  1. "Paralysed Belgian misdiagnosed as in coma for 23 years". BBC News. 24 November 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8375326.stm. Retrieved 24 November 2009. 
  2. Raf Casert (23 November 2009). "Rom Houben, man in coma for 23 years, was fully conscious, mom says". The Huffington Post.
  3. Scott Hensley (17 February 2010). "Book-writing man in coma fails communication test". National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/bookwriting_man_in_coma_flunks.html. Retrieved 2010-02-19. "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.".