Fears are growing in Germany that stricken F1 legend Michael Schumacher may be in a coma for the rest of his life.
German weekly news magazine Focus reported that ‘Schumacher could be in a coma forever’ after speaking with experts on his condition.
Bild newspaper also reported that his condition is so grave that there are currently no plans to wake him.
He has been in an artificially induced state of unconsciousness for 18 days now and the silence from his management and the medical teams treating him in Grenoble, France, lead many to fear the worst.
The coma means that oxygen to his brain is reduced, therefore it works less and is better placed to recover from the injuries sustained during a low-speed ski accident on December 29.
But Schumacher, 44, has not recovered anywhere near sufficiently to be awoken from his coma, leading to the speculation that he might be committed to it for the rest of his days.
Patients placed in such comas are usually brought out of them after one to two weeks.
‘There may have been complications’, said neurosurgeon Andreas Zieger of the University Clinic for neurosurgery in Oldenburg to Focus magazine.
‘We should not speculate here. Ultimately, we are talking about life and death. A coma can in theory be maintained for a lifetime. It won’t hurt the human brain.’
But side effects include anaesthetic increasingly stressing the liver, muscle breakdown and rises in intracranial pressure as a result of cerebrospinal fluid not circulating efficiently.
Professor Zieger added: ‘Brain injuries are among the most complicated injuries that can happen to the human body.
‘Predictions about how long a person might be in a coma or potential complications are seldom reliable.’
Cologne neurological expert Professor Gereon Fink fears that his long coma indicates serious damage in the brain and that his condition remains critical.
‘He assumes that Michael Schumacher’s health condition is apparently worse than hoped for,’ reported a news website.
Source: Daily Mail
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