Patient trapped in a 23-year coma was conscious all along

Zolder, Belgium - A man thought by doctors to be in a vegetative state for 23 years was actually conscious the whole time, it was revealed. Student Rom Houben was misdiagnosed after a car crash left him totally paralysed. He had no way of letting experts, family or friends know he could hear every word they said. I screamed, but there was nothing to hear, said Mr Houben, now 46. Doctors used a range of coma tests, recognised worldwide, before reluctantly concluding that his consciousness was extinct. But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally....More