Teaching the brains of paralyzed people to communicate

By Michael Cook One of the most terrifying accidents imaginable is to become paralysed and to be unable to speak. Fortunately, scientists are gradually learning how to interpret signals from the brain and translate them into letters, words, and eventually speech. In a milestone for brain-computer interfaces (BCI), researchers at UC San Francisco and UC …

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Parents of brain-injured boy plead to be allowed to remove him from the hospital and spend his final hours in hospice

By Dave Andrusko Having lost in several courts, the family of Archie Battersbee, the severely brain-injured 12 year old boy, have asked the High Court in London to be allowed to move Archie from the Royal London Hospital to a hospice to die.  Their request follows the refusal by the European Court of Human Rights …

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More evidence that people in ‘vegetative states’ may in fact be aware

By Michael Cook Editor’s note. Today’s repost of an article that appeared previously in NRL News Today is a reminder how far we have come in overcoming the conventional wisdom that people who have suffered devastating brain injuries are completely unresponsive. How do we know that patients with acute brain injuries who seem completely unresponsive really …

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“I never truly appreciated how important the simplicities of life are until I began my journey to recovery”

As Jacob began communicating, the doctors realized that he had not been unconscious but rather awake the whole time. Jacob remembered nurses calling him “brain dead” and that visits slowed over time. Read the whole story.

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An Unexpected Recovery and What We Can Learn from It

By Nancy Valko When 28 year old Jacob Haendel was rushed to an emergency room in Massachusetts four years ago, the doctors thought he was having a stroke but brain scans showed something very different. Instead, his brain scans showed that his “brain seemed to be unplugging itself from the rest of his body”. One …

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Hospital wins right to withdraw life-sustaining treatment from two-year-old Alta Fixsler

By Right to Life UK The parents of a two-year-old girl set to be taken off life-support are calling on the government to intervene to save her life. Alta Fixsler, now aged two and a half, was born prematurely when her mother went into labour at 34 weeks, and suffered brain damage as a result …

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Man makes miraculous recovery after doctors urge family to remove life support

By Texas Right to Life A man in England is alive today because his family gave him a chance. The Daily Mirror reports that Sean Chilvers, 30, was hospitalized and on life support after suffering cardiac arrest almost six months ago. Today, Chilvers is making a recovery that doctors never could have predicted. He is talking, making …

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More evidence that people in ‘vegetative states’ may in fact be aware

By Michael Cook Editor’s note. Today’s repost of an article that appeared a year ago in NRL News Today is a reminder how far we have come in overcoming the conventional wisdom that people who have suffered devastating brain injuries are completely unresponsive. How do we know that patients with acute brain injuries who seem …

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5-year-old girl condemned to die after court refuses to hear appeal to continue care

By Texas Right to Life Pippa Knight is a brain-injured 5-year-old in the United Kingdom, whose mother has been fighting to keep her alive. Last December, the hospital sought to remove care from Pippa, who has been hospitalized for two years after being diagnosed with acute necrotizing encephalopathy. Her mother, Paula Parfitt, appealed the decision …

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Brain-injured man’s estranged wife wants him denied food and water, but his mother wants to save his life

Joshua Barras’s wife, with whom he was going through a divorce when he became injured, claims his condition is deteriorating. But a hospice facility found Joshua was no longer eligible for hospice, as he is not declining at all, but is actually in excellent health. LOUISIANA, March 22, 2021 – The wife of a brain-injured …

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