There is a case in New York that has doctors absolutely thunderstruck. Joe Tiralosi went to Columbia Presbyterian hospital in New York. He suffered cardiac arrest and his heart stopped beating for a full 47 minutes, as doctors used state of the art science and technology to revive him. Not only did they restore his heartbeat. Not only did they restore his heartbeat, but his ability to express his wonder, astonishment and gratitude, which he is doing tonight on a CBS TV, which reports as follows on their site.
"Three months ago Joe Tiralosi literally died. He walked into the emergency room at Presbyterian Hospital feeling sick and disoriented. One minute later he collapsed in cardiac arrest.
What happened next is nothing short of a medical miracle that even the doctors can't believe. That's because for the next 47 minutes, Tiralosi didn't have a heartbeat.
"It's a miracle for which it is difficult to find words," said Presbyterian Hospital's Dr. Flavio Gaudio."
It's amazing what doctors can with G-d's help accomplish when they follow a mixture of intuition and knowledge to move into the unknown. The human mind and body is truly the last frontier of terra incognita, of uncharted territory.
In another development, a man in Belgium named Rom Houben who was misclassified as being in a coma for23 years has regained consciousness to the point of reading books and communicating with the aid of a computer. The London Daily Mail reports as follows.
A car crash victim has spoken of the horror he endured for 23 years after he was misdiagnosed as being in a coma when he was conscious the whole time.
Rom Houben, trapped in his paralysed body after a car crash, described his real-life nightmare as he screamed to doctors that he could hear them - but could make no sound.
'I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,' said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegetative state.
'I dreamed myself away,' he added, tapping his tale out with the aid of a computer.
Doctors used a range of coma tests before reluctantly concluding that his consciousness was 'extinct'.
But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally.
Mr Houben described the moment as 'my second birth'. Therapy has since allowed him to tap out messages on a computer screen."
Every once in a while, we are reminded of how little we know by people such as Joe Tiralosi and Rom Houben, who defy the boundaries we establish for life and death and find joy and meaning in a restricted existence. The sense of wonder that emanates from such a struggle illuminates the world far beyond their individual lives. The struggle of the doctors to detect life and to revive it are a powerful statement about the mystery of life.
As the health care debate unfolds in the upcoming weeks, it is wise to be mindful that a humnan life is not a corporation to be dissolved at will upon examination of a profit loss statement. I am grateful to the doctors at Columbia Presbyterian and Dr. Laureys in Zolders, Belgium who have challenged existing assumptions about life as we know it. Dr. Laureys has used modern medical diagnostics to find life in those previously thought to be dead. He has been working very hard to bring his findings to the attention of the public in his capacity as head of the Coma Science Group and Department of Neurology at Liege University Hospital.
We gain a great deal from stepping beyond seeing human life as a profit loss statement. It is doctors like Dr. Laureys of Belgium and Dr. Flavio Gaudio of Columbia Presbyterian of New York who bring the wonder and mystery of life to the public in a vivid manner. We gain a great deal through their efforts. As health care is debated, their efforts should be discussed and remembered.
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The Daily News link is below.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/09/02/2009-09-02_i_was_at_the_end__now_im_back_miracle_recovery_for_bklyn_dad_in_cardiac_arrest_f.html
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