U.S. student freed from North Korea has severe brain injury

[webfact]

U.S. student freed from North Korea has severe brain injury

By Ginny McCabe

 

FILE PHOTO - Otto Frederick Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who has been detained in North Korea since early January, attends a news conference in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyod

 

WYOMING, Ohio (Reuters) - An American university student who was returned to the United States this week after being held in North Korea for 17 months has a severe brain injury and is in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness," doctors said on Thursday.

 

Otto Warmbier, 22, who arrived in the United States on Tuesday, is stable but "shows no sign of understanding language, responding to verbal commands or awareness of his surrounding," said Dr. Daniel Kanter, medical director of the neuroscience intensive care unit at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

 

"He has not spoken," Kanter said at a news conference. "He has not engaged in any purposeful movements or behaviours." He said Warmbier was breathing on his own.

 

Warmbier, from Wyoming, Ohio, has been in a coma since March 2016, shortly after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in North Korea, his family said on Tuesday.

 

He was arrested for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan, North Korean media reported. He was visiting North Korea with a tour group.

 

On Thursday, North Korea said that it had released Warmbier "on humanitarian grounds."

 

The University of Virginia student's father, Fred Warmbier, said at an earlier news conference that his son had been "brutalized and terrorized" by the North Korean government.

 

Fred Warmbier said the family did not believe North Korea's story that his son had fallen into a coma after contracting botulism and being given a sleeping pill.

 

Doctors said on Thursday that there was no sign of botulism in Otto Warmbier's system.

 

Dr. Jordan Bonomo (L), a Neurointensivist, Dr. Daniel Kanter (C), Medical Director of the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit, and Dr. Brandon Forman (R), a Neurointensive Care Specialist, field questions about the condition and treatment of Otto Warmbier during a news conference at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S., June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Bryan Woolston

 

Kanter said that Warmbier had suffered "extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of the brain," but he declined to discuss Warmbier's prognosis at the request of his family.

 

While doctors are uncertain as to what exactly caused the condition, cardiac arrest that stops the flow of blood to the brain is generally seen as resulting in the death of brain tissue.

 

Cardiac arrest in young, healthy people is rare and generally caused by either intoxication or traumatic injury, Dr. Jordan Bonomo, a specialist in neurosurgery and neurocritical care at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, said at the news conference.

 

Although doctors had no information about the type of medical treatment Warmbier received while in North Korea, they did receive MRI images from North Korea dated April 2016, Kanter said. Based on those images, doctors estimate the brain injury likely occurred in the preceding weeks, he said.

 

Doctors said there was no evidence that Warmbier suffered any broken bones.

 

On Thursday, the State Department said that its special envoy on North Korea, Joseph Yun, who negotiated Warmbier's release during a visit to the country this week, had also met with three other U.S. citizens being held in North Korea.

 

Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been heightened by North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests. Pyongyang has vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

 

Fred Warmbier said he was stunned when told of his son's condition one week ago.

 

"I don't know what being in shock is, but I'm pretty sure I was," he said.

 

"There is no excuse for any civilized nation to have kept his condition secret and denied him top-notch medical care for so long."

 

He said his wife, Cindy, had not left their son's side since his return to the United States and that he had spoken with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday night.

 

In Wyoming, a northern Cincinnati suburb of about 8,000 people, Warmbier's return to the United States was marked by blue and white ribbons, representing the colours of the local high school, tied around trees and telephone polls.

 

(Writing by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago; Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Toni Reinhold and Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-06-16

 

[Borzandy]

Only for this, the kim must be killed.

[soalbundy]

To have tried the stunt that he did  in NK  he must have been a little brain dead before he was arrested.

[kamahele]

Moral of the story is, don't go to North Korea. How many more Americans have to be arrested and abused before people realize it is not safe to Americans to visit. It's not even safe for North Koreans to be there, why do Americans continue to visit?! 

[nahkit]

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

To have tried the stunt that he did  in NK  he must have been a little brain dead before he was arrested.

Perhaps the propaganda on the poster was so ridiculous he just couldn't resist trying to get one for himself?

 

I remember when I was in Libya one time I was walking along the colonnade in Tripoli and on every pillar there was a poster advertising an upcoming conference for African nations to be held there.

 

The heading on the poster was  "Africans Are Revolting".

 

Oh how I wanted one of those posters but I also knew the risk I would be taking if I tried to take one.

 

(And before anyone reaches for their keyboard, no, I don't consider Africans to be revolting).

[Dave67]

Sounds like they have dosed him with something to stop him revealing the horror of a North Korean hard labour prison 

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, nahkit said:

Perhaps the propaganda on the poster was so ridiculous he just couldn't resist trying to get one for himself?

 

I remember when I was in Libya one time I was walking along the colonnade in Tripoli and on every pillar there was a poster advertising an upcoming conference for African nations to be held there.

 

The heading on the poster was  "Africans Are Revolting".

 

Oh how I wanted one of those posters but I also knew the risk I would be taking if I tried to take one.

 

(And before anyone reaches for their keyboard, no, I don't consider Africans to be revolting).

Oh dear, you had to put that last sentence in didn't you, where does all this fear of the PC mob come from. Let them have a day of outrage, they are so funny when angry.

[Dave67]

Lack of oxygen and blood to the brain causes his condition apparently, too much waterboarding probably , 

[soalbundy]

11 minutes ago, Dave67 said:

Sounds like they have dosed him with something to stop him revealing the horror of a North Korean hard labour prison 

I doubt that, it is already well known and they aren't very PC about it, he was probably remonstrating to them and had just got to the bit about not doing this work because the health and safety regulations don't allow it when they showed him what they thought about health and safety.

[Rimmer]

A not very nice post and a reply have been removed

[freebyrd]

3 hours ago, soalbundy said:

To have tried the stunt that he did  in NK  he must have been a little brain dead before he was arrested.

I simply cannot comprehend why anyone, other than a fruitcake like Rodman, would want to visit NK?!! No amount of money could tempt me.

[mercman24]

well we all know that Rodman is a sad attention seeker, who still wants to be in the limelight.

[Krataiboy]

Yeah, but. . . 

 

Behaving as irrationally and irresponsibly as he did, one has to wonder at the state of this young man's mental health before he even got to North Korea.

 

Uncle Sam churns out more than its share of brain-damaged individuals.

 

The last time I looked, around one in five US citizens were seeking help for mental health problems each year and one in six were taking anti-depressants to get through the day.

 

And this was BEFORE Donald Trump even got elected!

[KKr]

let's show some respect... ...
the guy, by the looks of it, tried to be a wise-guy bringing a souvenir home to impress his American friends.
Not a good idea, but an adolescent's prank, and punishable in the country where he was a guest.
However, to be left (almost) brain-dead seems to be over the top as punishment.

[jak2002003]

4 hours ago, Borzandy said:

Only for this, the kim must be killed.

Idiot.  Look at America Police brutality and see how many Americans are kill by their own people.. on the streets, and in police custody.  No one says the president of America must be killed because of that.

[jak2002003]

3 hours ago, kamahele said:

Moral of the story is, don't go to North Korea. How many more Americans have to be arrested and abused before people realize it is not safe to Americans to visit. It's not even safe for North Koreans to be there, why do Americans continue to visit?! 

Yep... and don't go over there as a Christian doing stupid stuff for your Church either.  This guy clearly thought he was better and untouchable by the North Koreans, and disrespected their culture and committed a serious crime there (serious to North Koreans). 

 

 

[nahkit]

2 hours ago, soalbundy said:

Oh dear, you had to put that last sentence in didn't you, where does all this fear of the PC mob come from. Let them have a day of outrage, they are so funny when angry.

Well if I hadn't the PC mob would have probably hijacked the whole thread.

[hhinhh]

1 hour ago, jak2002003 said:

Idiot.  Look at America Police brutality and see how many Americans are kill by their own people.. on the streets, and in police custody.  No one says the president of America must be killed because of that.

It looks like you have already been brainwashed by NK (or never owned a brain) not beeing able to distinguish the regiemes in NK and US.

[soalbundy]

2 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

Idiot.  Look at America Police brutality and see how many Americans are kill by their own people.. on the streets, and in police custody.  No one says the president of America must be killed because of that.

We can fantasize though.

[soalbundy]

3 hours ago, mercman24 said:

well we all know that Rodman is a sad attention seeker, who still wants to be in the limelight.

Considering the state of the WH he is probably their top diplomat, want to do a deal with NK ?  get Rod.

Edited June 16, 2017 by soalbundy

[dunroaming]

4 hours ago, Dave67 said:

Lack of oxygen and blood to the brain causes his condition apparently, too much waterboarding probably , 

Why would they waterboard him?  He wasn't under suspicion of being a spy.  Best to leave the waterboarding of innocent people to the Americans, I am told they are the experts at it.

[Dave67]

1 minute ago, dunroaming said:

Why would they waterboard him?  He wasn't under suspicion of being a spy.  Best to leave the waterboarding of innocent people to the Americans, I am told they are the experts at it.

Well they've done something to him that has had an adverse effect on his health, he did not go in like that. Botulism was not the case as NK claimed

[soalbundy]

Brain damaged ? Look at it from the positive side,he can now run for president

[soalbundy]

2 minutes ago, Dave67 said:

Well they've done something to him that has had an adverse effect on his health, he did not go in like that. Botulism was not the case as NK claimed

They meant Boot-o-lism

[Andaman Al]

3 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

Idiot.  Look at America Police brutality and see how many Americans are kill by their own people.. on the streets, and in police custody.  No one says the president of America must be killed because of that.

Well true, they never used to, but there are a few people calling for it now.

 

This is a tragedy for the young man and his family. However dull he was, (we all have PhD's in Hindsight especially on TV), he did not deserve the horrors we can only imagine of a North Korean hard labour camp. The stories of these places from escapees/survivors are truly horrifying. 

[Khon Kaen Dave]

3 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

Idiot.  Look at America Police brutality and see how many Americans are kill by their own people.. on the streets, and in police custody.  No one says the president of America must be killed because of that.

The year is only half way through. Give it a chance!

[hawker9000]

7 hours ago, kamahele said:

Moral of the story is, don't go to North Korea. How many more Americans have to be arrested and abused before people realize it is not safe to Americans to visit. It's not even safe for North Koreans to be there, why do Americans continue to visit?! 

Travel bans should have been imposed years ago..  Missionaries, aid-givers, academics, and adventure seekers need to find other places to go indulge their various agendas.  Business ventures should also be banned outright, and all N Korean assets frozen (with amounts seized to pay for Otto Warmbier's medical expenses!).  Stop prevaricating and sending mixed messages; it only encourages and helps props up the fatboy psychopath.  Let China carry that water by themselves.

 

Oh, and forcefully disavow Dennis Rodman and make it unmistakably clear he speaks for no one but his own sorry a##.

Edited June 16, 2017 by hawker9000

[MuntyC0re]

North Korea must be destroyed

[onthesoi]

Pretty stupid move trying to steal from the NK government whilst on holiday there...