Amazing news article reported 23.11.09 in the UK of a car crash victim who appeared to be in a coma for but is now ‘awake’.

Rom Houben has lived in an outwardly unresponsive body for the past 23 years however recently a Dr Laureys decided to do a hi-tech screening of his brain and he and the medics involved were stunned to see not only was Mr Houben’s brain functioning, but functioning almost completely normally even though he had been originally diagnosed as being in a “persistent vegetative state” and that his consciousness was ‘extinct’.

The  amazing discovering that he was not in a coma but had heard and understood every conversation over the 23 years proves that not only are diagnoses not always correct, but often it is just a simple advance in technology that is needed.

Dr Laureys's new study claims that patients classed as in a vegetative state are often misdiagnosed.  “Anyone who bears the stamp of "unconscious" just one time hardly ever gets rid of it again,” he said.

With therapy, Mr Houben is now able to tap out messages on a computer screen and read books with aid of a special device that allows him to read lying down and also to tap out messages on a computer screen.

Dr Laureys's new study claims that patients classed as in a vegetative state are often misdiagnosed.

'Anyone who bears the stamp of "unconscious" just one time hardly ever gets rid of it again,' he said.

'I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me - it was my second birth.

'I want to read, talk with my friends via the computer and enjoy my life now that people know I am not dead' 

The doctor, who leads the Coma Science Group and Department of Neurology at Liege University Hospital, found Mr Houben's brain was still working by using state-of-the-art imaging.

He plans to use the case to highlight what he considers may be similar examples around the world.

Dr Laureys said: 'In Germany alone each year some 100,000 people suffer from severe traumatic brain injury.

'About 20,000 are followed by a coma of three weeks or longer. Some of them die, others regain health.

'But an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people a year remain trapped in an intermediate stage - they go on living without ever coming back again.'

Supporters of euthanasia and assisted suicide argue that people who have lain in persistent vegetative states for years should be given the opportunity to have crucial medical support withdrawn because of the 'indignity' of their condition.

But there have been several cases in which people judged to be in vegetative states or deep comas have recovered.

Twenty years ago, Carrie Coons, an 86-year-old from New York, regained consciousness after a year, took small amounts of food by mouth and engaged in conversation.

Only days before her recovery, a judge had granted her family's request for the removal of the feeding tube which had been keeping her alive.

In the UK in 1993, doctors switched off the life support system keeping alive Tony Bland, a 22-year- old who had been in a coma for three years following the Hillsborough disaster.

Dr Laureys was not available for comment yesterday and it is not clear why he though Mr Houben should have the hi-tech screening after so many years had passed.