Michael Schumacher may be - very gradually - waking up from his induced coma, according to reports in L'Equipe today.
Professor Jean-Luc Truelle, the former head of the neurology department of the Foch hospital in Suresnes, told L'Equipe that a month is "the maximum period" one can remain in an induced coma before emerging from this phase.
Prof Truelle says doctors would have begun to look for the "re-establishment of some kind of communication, which we verify through simple commands," such as "open your eyes, shut your eyes, squeeze your hand".
According to L'Equipe, Schumacher has "reacted positively" to this process. "Schumacher appears to show this type of re-awakening," wrote L'Equipe.
However, according to Prof Truelle, the two months following this phase are a period of confusion in which the patient remains in a state of "lethargy" and that recovery stage can take "several years in the case of serious head trauma".
Sabine Kehm, Schumacher's manager, did not deny or confirm the reports and insisted she would not comment on speculation. She insisted that these reports were not coming from the doctors treating him and stressed that the family have full confidence in his medical team.
