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
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ Raf Casert (23 November 2009). "Rom Houben, man in coma for 23 years, was fully conscious, mom says". The Huffington Post.
- ↑ 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.".