LIEGE, Belgium, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A speech therapist who claimed to be helping a comatose Belgian car crash victim communicate likely was the one doing the communicating, a neurologist says.
Neurologist Dr. Steven Laureys, who is treating coma victim Rom Houben, said he tested the technique called facilitated communication on three patients with brain injuries and in two of the cases, the therapist was responsible for the communication, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.
Laureys, head of the Coma Science Group at Belgium's University of Liege, said the third patient in his study appeared to be communicating successfully via the therapist. Additional research should be conducted on the third pairing, he added.
The therapist who worked with Houben, who is in a persistent vegetative state, claimed Houben communicated by applying slight pressure to her hand in order to type out messages on a keyboard.
Laureys said his study involved showing the patient certain items while the therapist was not in the room, then later asking the patient to identify the items with the therapist's help.
"If she shows him an apple and the facilitator returns and she asks 'What did I show you?' and she types 'a Coke,' we have a problem," he said.
