AZ Christmas Miracle Coma patient wakes up hours before taken off life support

[JeannieC]

Coma patient wakes up hours before taken off life support

PHOENIX (KABC) -- In what some may call a Christmas miracle, an Arizona college student woke up from a coma hours before doctors were considering taking him off life support.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=8478217


http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=8478219

 

[mysteriew]

Just goes to show you that Drs. don't know everything.

I was just thinking, they say that a patient in a coma sometimes can hear and understand, they just can't respond back. This guy evidently was just below the level of conciousness. Can you imagine if he heard them making preparations to remove the life support and understood what that meant for him?

Good to see that he has a good prognosis now.

 

[Quiche]

They were going to take him off support after only three months? That seems way too soon, imo. (I have a friend who was in a coma for nearly a year who rose out of it, she was left with some disability in her coordination, speech, etc. but intact personality wise).

So happy for him-- and his family-- he's already getting around! :clap:

 

[Etilema]

When they say he was "believed" to be brain dead, I have to assume they didn't actually use instruments to detect brain stem activity??

 

[jjenny]

When they say he was "believed" to be brain dead, I have to assume they didn't actually use instruments to detect brain stem activity??

They did MRIs on him and they never showed he was brain dead. So I am puzzled why they wanted to disconnect his life support in a first place.

"For days Schmid didn't seem to be responding, but what puzzled his doctor was that he did not see fatal injuries on the MRI scan. So he decided to keep Schmid on life support longer."
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/arizon...-donate-organs/story?id=15208351#.TvjIjVbZWSo

 

[kgeaux]

When they say he was "believed" to be brain dead, I have to assume they didn't actually use instruments to detect brain stem activity??

That certainly seems like the least they could do, doesn't it??

 

[panthera]

Just goes to show you that Drs. don't know everything.

I was just thinking, they say that a patient in a coma sometimes can hear and understand, they just can't respond back. This guy evidently was just below the level of conciousness. Can you imagine if he heard them making preparations to remove the life support and understood what that meant for him?

Good to see that he has a good prognosis now.

I believe it is very possible he could have heard and understood what was going on around him. However I don't discount the "miracle" that he awakened and seemingly is making good progress. It is Christmas!