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Email: "‘Comatose’ UK Man Chooses Life by Moving Eyes"

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BY LifeSiteNews.com By Patrick B. Craine July 21, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A paraplegic UK man thought to be in a coma and slated to be taken off life support was able to express his desire to live by moving his eyes, revealed the BBC in a new documentary. Richard Rudd was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident last October.  Medical staff believed he had fallen into a coma, and he was being kept alive by a ventilator. His family believed that he would not want to continue the treatment, based on previous comments he had made, so they asked doctors to take him off life support. But Dr. David Menon, a consultant on the case and a leading expert on brain injuries, was shocked when he examined Rudd to find that the patient responded when asked to move his eyes to the left and right.  The moment is captured in the BBC documentary ‘Between Life and Death’, which aired last week. After testing his responses over an extended period, doctors determined that he was lucid enough to decide his own fate.  When Dr. Menon asked whether he wanted to continue on life support, Rudd answered “yes”. Since then, he has continued to progress slowly and is now able to make facial expressions. “This is an amazing case because it proves that even though there was almost no sign of an ability to communicate, he was in there and wanted to communicate,” commented Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.  He said that this situation highlights the fact that, in cases like Rudd’s, it is very difficult to determine the patient’s state. Schadenberg compared Rudd’s case to that of Tony Nicklinson, who suffered a stroke five years ago and is now only capable of communicating by blinking at letters on a Perspex board.  Nicklinson has decided he wants to die, and is using his situation to demand a change in Britain’s homicide laws.  He wants the authorities to allow his wife to kill him without fear of prosecution. The two cases “show you that it depends all on your attitude, because Richard Rudd wants to live, and Nicklinson wants to die,” said Schadenberg.  “But the question is, what are the other factors here?”“Have we tried to help [Nicklinson] live his life in a way that he would find dignity in?” he asked.  “Or have we abandoned him to his desire to die?  It’s better to care for people, not kill them.” http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/comatose-uk-man-chooses-life-by-moving-eyes/

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