Coma scam?
True/Slant’s Michael Shermer argues the coma man story that’s been in the news recently is BS. If true, some high profile TV doctors are going to have egg on their faces…(via J$)
“Communication” by Coma Man is just “ideomotor” Ouija Board effect
It’s a hoax, folks. Sorry to be the spoiler of a feel good story—that of Rom Houben, the Belgian man who allegedly “woke up” from a 23-year long coma—but the hard truth must win out over hopeful emotions. Houben’s “communications,” his “statements” about how he’s been aware all along of his condition, his “talking” to reporters (all descriptive terms used by hardened journalists softened into bleeding heart jelly) is nothing more than the “ideomotor” effect, where the brain subtly and subconsciously guides the hands and fingers over a keyboard, or a Ouija board, or directs the movements of dowsing rods in search of underground water. You think it, the hand will move there. Dr. Sanjay Gupta missed it on CNN, Dr. Nancy Snyderman missed it on MSNBC. And neuroscientists untrained in skepticism and the history of facilitated communication all missed it.
Watch the video again here and here and note what the reporters say about how Houben was speaking, saying, talking, etc. For example:
November 27, 2009 at 3:49 pm
I hate defending tv doctors, but their analyses must necessarily assume that the subject’s physicians know what they’re doing. Their roles are that of background analysts, not members of a peer review panel.
Dr. Shermer is correct to be a skeptic about this case and I agree that the arm motions appear… too deliberate for someone with such diminished motor skills. Doesn’t mean he’s right, though, as such communications are possible. The therapist holding is arm is admittedly doing the actual moving, but does so responding to subtle pressure changes made by the patient’s fingers – therapist moves arm slowly until patient indicates a “stop”, then lowers finger to key unless again a “stop” is indicated, in which case the therapist moves over one way or other to next key, unless again given the signal to stop. The therapist, of course, is not stupid and so can anticipate some of the intended key hits.
Or it could be a scam to win favour for those who are opposed to “right to die” or euthanasia.
November 27, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Whoa, a hoax?????? I don’t really believe that…but that’s just me.
November 27, 2009 at 6:02 pm
I wouldn’t call this a hoax, in the balloon boy sense, just newsrooms having a good story and in house doctors not wanting to be a downer.
I watched coma man using facilitated communication and he was typing faster than I can.
They have been a number of experiments done with facilitated communication and they show it doesn’t work.
It’s pretty simple to test; you show a different picture to the patient and facilitator and ask them to type what they saw. In all cases the picture the facilitator saw is the one that’s typed out.
There may be cases where facilitated communication works but it’s easy to test out and know for sure.
I don’t think this was malicious but the media needs to be more careful before going with a story no matter how heart warming.
November 28, 2009 at 5:53 am
F & F went on air with the Tiger affair story this AM. Hold on, the Tiger Woods fender bender story is about to go nuclear.
November 28, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Facilitated communication can be very dangerous if not double-blind tested. It can lead to false hope, or – as I have seen in my field working with autistics – used to harm colleagues. I’ve heard of clients “accusing” staff of abuse, which is more likely one staff angry at another. If they don’t test this guy, this story has no validity.
November 28, 2009 at 2:05 pm
You are absolutely right, joe. I’m giving those neurologists the benefit of doubt – but just for now.