Otto Warmbier Health Condition Update: Chances of Full Recovery From Coma Is Dim, Says Expert
University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier has returned to the United States after being detained in North Korea for 17 months. However, the 22-year-old was released in a coma and there are growing concerns about his health condition and what he went through during his detainment.
In March 2016, Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor by the North Korean government on grounds of "hostile acts against the state." The student was reportedly caught removing a red propaganda sign from a hotel wall.
State-run Korean Central News Agency published a short, grainy clip of a tall man, presumed to be Warmbier, taking down a propaganda sign from the wall in a corridor of a staff-only floor at the Yanggakdo International Hotel.
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The sign read, "Arm ourselves with strong socialism." The time stamp on the video indicated that it was taken on New Year's Day of 2016. He was detained on Jan. 2, 2016, at the Pyongyang airport just as he was preparing to return to the United States.
According to The Washington Post, North Korean officials told U.S. envoys that Warmbier's family was informed that he had contracted botulism after his trial and was therefore given a sleeping pill. He has been in a coma since.
In a statement, as reported by CNN, Fred and Cindy Warmbier only learned of his coma a week before his scheduled departure for the United States. The couple is devastated by what had happened to their son, saying, "We want the world to know how we and our son have been brutalized and terrorized by the pariah regime in North Korean." They added that they are very thankful to finally have Otto back home.
Otto was released by North Korea on "humanitarian grounds."
However, Warmbier's arrival in the United States continues to baffle his family and authorities. It raises questions about his health condition and what he went through while in custody in North Korea. Authorities have not yet confirmed whether Warmbier did suffer from botulism and how the sleeping pill administered to him triggered the coma. Experts can only say that the length that Warmbier has been in a coma poses a health risk.
According to James Bernat, a coma expert from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire, while the prognosis for a coma will depend on what caused it and how long it lasted, being in a coma for over a year generally makes chances of full recovery dim.
