Waking those in a Permanent Vegetative State

By plb on June 10, 2006 1:15 PM | No Comments

Louis Viljoen awoke from a three year coma after he was administered a sleeping pill. The question is whether or not the drug will work on others:

In the coming months, British company ReGen will begin clinical trials with Zolpidem on 30 coma patients in South Africa, in the hope that the drug will also bring them back to life.

Its effect on Louis has been remarkable, says his mother. Photos of the now 36-year-old man adorn the wall above his bed, marking each of the 10 birthdays he has spent here at the Ikhaya Tini Vorster rehabilitation centre in Dunnottar, near Springs.

Note that just like Terri Schiavo and Haleigh Poutre, doctors had diagnosed Louis as being in a permanent vegetative state (PVS). They told his mother he would never recover.

Previously: End the Madness: PVS is reversible or misdiagnosed