Coma Italian 'heard everything'

Posted by Bible Probe on October 05, 2005 at 19:33:00:

05 OCT 05
Coma Italian 'heard everything'

An Italian man has emerged from a two-year-long coma claiming he retained his powers of hearing and comprehension throughout his illness, his family say.

Salvatore Crisafulli, 38, is recovering at home after years spent in what doctors had termed a "near-dead" state.

He is quoted as saying that his "miraculous" recovery proves euthanasia cannot be justified for coma patients.

An Italian ethics body is meanwhile set to recommend the mandatory care of all unconscious patients, reports say.

A national bio-ethics committee, which advises lawmakers, is expected to recommend that the state has a duty to keep all such patients alive - even those who do not want their lives prolonged, according to Reuters news agency.

The committee voted in favour of the motion last month but has yet to submit its final paper.

Italian 'Terri Schiavo'

According to Italian media, Mr Crisafulli claims to have overheard doctors saying he was not conscious.

"I understood everything and I cried in desperation," he said.

Mr Crisafulli has recovered the power of speech and recollection, his brother Pietro told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

"I don't expect that he will be like he was, but it's already a miracle," he was quoted as saying.

"And to think that some doctors said that it was all useless and that he would be dead in three, four months."

Pietro Crisafulli compared his brother to Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged US woman who died earlier this year amid a storm of controversy.

Her husband eventually won a legal campaign to have her feeding tube removed despite a series of court challenges from her parents, who insisted she must be kept alive despite her vegetative state.

The case attracted much attention in Italy.

Ms Schiavo's parents, both Roman Catholics, visited the Vatican earlier this year and were greeted by Pope Benedict XVI, a staunch opponent of euthanasia.

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