Two German news organisations reported that Formula One legend Michael Schumacher might remain in permanent coma.
German magazine 'Focus' and newspaper 'Bild' reported that health experts said that Schumacher will have to spend the rest of his life in coma, reported the Daily Mail.
Schumacher, 44, is under artificially induced coma since he injured his brain after a ski accident in France, December 29.
Initially, doctors said that Schumacher showed a "slight" improvement, but latest media reports claim that he is not showing any recovery signs. "There may have been complications", said neurosurgeon Andreas Zieger of the University Clinic for neurosurgery in Oldenburg to Focus magazine, reported Nine MSN. "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."
However, another expert told the Daily Mail that Schumacher's long coma hinted at serious brain damage and the condition could remain critical..
Even if Schumacher survives the brain injury he might have a threefold chance of early death. A recent study states that those who survive traumatic brain injuries (TBI) have a threefold increased chance of early death. The study examined 218,300 TBI survivors, 150,513 siblings of TBI survivors and over two million control cases matched by sex and age from the general population.
"We found that people who survive six months after TBI remain three times more likely to die prematurely than the control population and 2.6 times more likely to die than unaffected siblings," said study leader Dr Seena Fazel, a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in Oxford University's Department of Psychiatry.
