Rom Houben is the man in a vegetative state for the past 20 years who has recently been alleged to have have been fully conscious throughout. This was determined through application of the controversial technique of facilitated communication.
News reports of this "miracle" relayed various spectacularly articulate statements claimed to be made by Mr. Houben, and included the information that he was now, with the help of his facilitator, writing a book about his experience. Others have poiinted out that facilitated communication is a suspect technique for good reason, and video clips of Mr. Houben "typing" show that his skill was really being generated by his facilitator. Now we learn through the German magazine, Der Spiegel, which first broke the news, that the attending neurologist, Dr. Steven Laureys, after earlier asserting otherwise, now claims that "his results hold that it wasn't Houben doing the writing after all". This is not a big surprise to those following this thread on TIPS. As a result _Der Spiegel_ has retracted all of the statements attributed to Houben in their November 2009 article. You can read about it here, in English: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,677537,00.html And apart from _New Scientist_ ( http://tinyurl.com/yhxd3jg ), despite the great coverage given to the original, now discredited claim, not a peep from the world's press. I may be rushing this a bit, as the retraction story was only published on February 13, but somehow I don't expect to hear much about it. The story of the man who lay paralyzed but conscious for 20 years until rescued by facilitated communication is just too good to be corrected. And it sure makes a point about our treatment of the severely-brain injured, such as Terry Schiavo. OK, I take that cynical comment about press coverage back. The Chicago Tribune has just reported on it ( http://tinyurl.com/yjog3x6 ), and also AOL News ( http://tinyurl.com/yk2f2o5 ). But will this be enough to stop the myth? Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [email protected] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=694 or send a blank email to leave-694-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
