Remember the case of Rom Houben? – the Belgian man who'd been in a coma for 23 years and was, reportedly, suddenly managing to communicate? The doctor who publicised this apparent miracle has now admitted, after further research, that it's nonsense:
Claims that Mr Houben – who was seriously injured in a car crash in 1983 – could communicate, swept around the world last November.
After more than two decades in a coma, he was filmed apparently tapping out messages on a special touchpad keyboard with the help of his speech therapist.
As many people pointed out at the time, this method of communication, via a facilitator, has long been discredited. And now the doctor at the centre of the case has been forced to admit as much.
Dr Laureys, a neurologist at Liege University Hospital in Belgium, had earlier established that Mr Houben, was more conscious than doctors had previously thought – and that is still thought to be the case.
But he also believed that his interaction with the speech therapist was genuine. Following further study, however, Dr Laureys says the method does not work.
He told the BBC that a series of tests on a group of coma patients, including Mr Houben, had concluded that the method was after all false. The results of the study were presented in London on Friday.
Here's a more detailed analysis, from Orac.
Mick Hartley 
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