The doctors taking care of Otto Warmbier held a press conference a few minutes ago where they described the condition of Otto and it doesn’t sound good at all.
Here are a couple of clips where they describe it:
Physicians say Otto Warmbier has "unresponsive wakefulness;" has spontaneous eye-opening, although no communication https://t.co/B7NKuUMEnd pic.twitter.com/T3yRYddkCw
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 15, 2017
Physicians say Warmbier's brain injury "is usually seen as a result of cardiopulmonary arrest." https://t.co/B7NKuUMEnd pic.twitter.com/0Oryxs2JZY
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 15, 2017
It sounds like he has a fair amount of dead brain tissue which is heartbreaking. One doctor suggested that in general, cardiopulmonary arrest can be caused by respiratory arrest. He explains below:
Reporter: "Was there any indication of trauma…or any fractures?"
Physicians: "We see no evidence of an acute or healing fracture." pic.twitter.com/sud5KOgdrs— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 15, 2017
They couldn’t really speculate on what his injuries were but they did suggest that it wasn’t botulism:
Doctors cast doubt on North Korean claims that Otto Warbier suffered from botulism https://t.co/LtUCnlL5gf
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 15, 2017
Because of the family’s wishes, the doctors wouldn’t say anything regarding Otto’s prognosis for recovery and I’m guessing that’s because it isn’t good. Also they don’t need people who aren’t involved criticizing their decisions as to how they proceed.
I must say listening to this just made me angry. I don’t know what they did to Otto to cause his injuries, but they left him in that state for over a year before finally releasing him. It’s outrageous and infuriating and I hope the administration can find a way to get any other Americans there home. And if there were any way possible, it’d be ok with me if we unleashed holy hell on Kim Jong Un and the men who keep him in power.