Coma Patient Wakens and Leaves Hospital

On December 23, 2011, the Arizona Republic reported on an unusual case of man who sustained a severe brain injury in an October, 2011 vehicle collision. According to the story, the 21-year-old man suffered a traumatic complex brain aneurysm as a result of the accident. An aneurysm is a medical condition where a blood vessel expands as if a balloon was inflated in the blood vessel. While the aneurism was repaired by Dr. Spetzler, a renowned Barrows Neurological Institute brain surgeon, the man remained in a coma for an additional week.

Since he had been in a coma for so long, the hospital suggested disconnecting life support systems and the family considered donating the young man’s organs. However, Dr. Spetzler decided to order one more MRI to see if the damage covered the entire brain stem. When the MRI results showed that the stem had not been entirely damaged, Dr. Spetzler suggested that the family allow one more week before disconnecting life support.

That same night, a nurse asked the young man to raise a finger, and he did. Within days, he was able to follow commands and talk a little and began neurorehabilitation therapy. The therapy has gone so well that the young man will be released from the hospital into a rehabilitation facility. As is typical in serious brain damage cases, the doctors say it will take a year or more of therapy before they will be able to tell how well he will recover from his injury. Due to modern surgical and rehabilitation techniques, even persons as close to death as this young man was after he sustained his brain injury, are able to make seemingly miraculous recoveries and lead productive lives. An example of this is the recovery Representative Gabriel Giffords has made after having been shot through the brain with a bullet.

As long-term Phoenix brain injury lawyers, we are always encouraged by stories like this where tremendous recoveries, against all odds, are made from a severe brain injury following a vehicle collision.
　
We are Phoenix personal injury lawyers and Phoenix accident injury lawyers. We are also Phoenix brain injury lawyers and Phoenix head injury lawyers. For more information about our law firm and the services we provide, please contact us at www.swclawyers.com.