A paralysed British
man whose life support machine was about to be switched off managed
to blink to save his own life.
Richard Rudd was left paralysed in the arms and legs after the
motorcycle he was riding hit a car at high speed in October 2009,
BBC News reports.
Mr Rudd, 43, was unable to respond to family members or
doctors.
His relatives agreed to it was time to let him go after
recalling a conversation where he had told them he would not want
to be trapped in a useless body.
"To keep someone alive whilst they're suffering and they're not
going to get better, it's playing God, if you like, because it's
going against nature," Mr Rudd's father, Richard, told the BBC.
As the Rudd family, including his two teen daughters, was
preparing to say goodbye to him, attending consultant Professor
David Menon discovered Richard was able to move his eyes to
respond.
A speech therapist began to ask Mr Rudd 20 simple questions per
day in an effort to demonstrate he had the capacity to answer if he
wanted to continue medical treatment or stop it, ending his
life.
Six months later Professor Menon asked him if he wanted to
continue treatment and Mr Rudd responded "yes".
"I asked him again on three occasions he made it clear, just
with yes/no answers, that this was his consistent response,"
Professor Menon said.
Mr Rudd is now able to make facial expressions