Experts point out that most artificial comas last for an average of three
weeks. Schumacher’s management team has insisted that doctors are gradually
reducing drug levels to bring the driver out of his artificial coma and that
he is currently in a “wake up” phase.
In a statement released on Friday, Schumacher’s management team insisted there
had been no change. “Michael is still in a wake up phase, the situation
has not altered,” said the driver’s management team spokeswoman Sabine
Kehm
At the management team’s request, the Grenoble hospital treating Schumacher
has kept news about his condition to a minimum. However sources close to his
family say that the driver’s prognosis is bleak. “The family has been
told that only a miracle can bring him back now,” a senior German
journalist reporting on the Schumacher case said. ” He is in a bad way
but until the family issues a formal statement, we cannot publish anything,”
he added.
Another source added: “Doctors have given it to them straight. Miracles
sometimes happen but there is little hope that he will come out of this.”
A fortnight ago, Germany’s Focus magazine reported that complications had
obliged doctors to halt Schumacher’s wake up process and that the driver had
been put back into a coma. However Schumacher’s management team denied the
report.
Coma experts have stressed that the past week should have been crucial for
Schumacher’s wake up process as doctors would have been hoping for a sign
that he was gradually becoming aware of his surroundings.
However last Sunday, the Schumacher family is reported to have spent Corinna
Schumacher’s 45th birthday gathered around the comatose driver’s hospital
bed praying in vain for him to acknowledge their presence.
Doctors say that the greatest risk facing the driver while he remains in a
coma and unable to swallow properly, is the possibility that he will
contract pneumonia as a result of his lungs being filled with fluid.
Should Schumacher manage to emerge from his coma, there appears to be little
likelihood that he would be able to live a normal, active life.
Gary Hartstein, a former Formula One doctor told the German media last week: “The
majority of patients who come out of a coma alive after this amount of time
suffer severe disabilities.”