Man Emerges From 23 Year Silence

CNN covered a story out of London about a man who communicated with family members and doctors after being in a presumed unconscious state for 23 years.  The man was originally diagnosed by doctors as being in a vegetative state.  Years later, state-of-the-art equipment was able to scan his brain and prove otherwise.  Further medical assistance triggered brain activity that allowed the man to finally communicate with doctors and family members.  As it turns out, the man was fully conscious, able to hear and understand everything that was going on around him, frustrated with his inability to respond and the misdiagnosis that he was in a vegetative state.  This has led many people to feel mixed emotions regarding the frequency that medical professionals misdiagnose patients in minimally-conscious states, especially because of the life or death decisions that are made based on these diagnoses. You can read the whole story by Mark Tutton on CNN.com.