The Story of Rom Houben

Looking at the news last night I heard about this story and now instantly have a new biggest fear to go alongside being buried alive! Recently it has come to light that a Belgian Man named Rom Houben had been wrongly diagnosed as being in a coma for the past 23 years. His entire body was disabled following a car crash and he was believed to be in a "vegetative state" (i hate that term).

For all these years since the accident he had laid there seeing and hearing people come and go, without being able to react or communicate. Even having to hear of his own father's death and not being able to even cry but the feelings and thoughts are still being processed in his brain.



I can't begin to imagine how frustrated, angry, depressed he must have been. Since the truth was revealed via a brain scan, it has been found that Rom is able to communicate using a special keyboard. I for one would be interested in buying his book if he ever managed to write one.

Mr Houben's story was revealed in a paper written by Steven Laureys, a doctor at Liege University who wrote a recent paper that detailed the case.

In it, Mr Laureys said that in about 40% of cases in which people are classified as being in a vegetative state, closer inspection reveals signs of consciousness.

Let's hope that these closer inspections become standard practice and in future nobody else will have to live in such a nightmare.