Teen Emerges From Coma Fluent in German

Croatian doctors say they can't explain it, yet

By John Johnson, Newser Staff
Suggested by ekwhaley88

Posted Apr 13, 2010 5:47 PM CDT

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Teen Emerges From Coma Fluent in German — Psychiatric expert involved in the case: "We prefer to think that there must be a logical explanation; it's just that we haven't found it yet." (Shutterstock)

A bizarre tale from Croatia: The Daily Mail and the Telegraph are reporting that a 13-year-old girl emerged from a 24-hour coma unable to speak her native Croatian but fluent in German. The girl reportedly had basic lessons in German before falling ill and had been watching German TV programs, but she was nowhere near fluent. Now her family needs an interpreter to communicate with her.

'You never know when recovering from such a trauma how the brain will react," says the director of KB Hospital in Split, Croatia. "Obviously we have some theories although at the moment we are limited in what we can say because we have to respect the privacy of the patient.' (More coma stories.)

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