Question
brother in law was trying to do a flip off the monkey bars at a park. fell directly on his head, they did an emergency trach on arrival, in fear he was going to die. He is on a vent, has a trach, feeding tube in stomach, and they are saying that he will be be a quadriplegic and vent dependant for the rest of his life. Is this true?  Also, he "supposedly" blinked his eye 2 days later after his accident and "gave" his adult daughter a durable power of attorney over him, does this sound fishy? He is in bad shape is this what will be from now on?  He is still in ICU and has all the above equipment still to this day, and this happened nearly 3 weeks ago.

Answer
Hi Gail,

  I am so sorry to here about your brother-in-law. I would suggest you talk to a neurologist about your questions and concerns. I would hope he already is being seen by a neurologist for his injuries.

  As for his "supposed" responses to his adult daughter, anything is possible, but it does sound a bit far fetched to me. I've been a quadriplegic for 35+ years and have seen many different outcomes from spinal cord injuries. Each injury is so different.

  And I have met a number of brain injured persons, but not enough to give you a decent answer to your question of whether 'is this what will be from now on?'.

  Again I would suggest you talk to an expert in the field (head injuries and spinal cord injuries)to answer your questions and concerns. I will pray for him and hope he recovers.

Sincerely, Ken