A paralysed British man whose life support machine was about to be switched off managed to blink to save his own life.
Richard Rudd was left paralysed in the arms and legs after the motorcycle he was riding hit a car at high speed in October 2009, BBC News reports.
Mr Rudd, 43, was unable to respond to family members or doctors.
His relatives agreed to it was time to let him go after recalling a conversation where he had told them he would not want to be trapped in a useless body.
"To keep someone alive whilst they're suffering and they're not going to get better, it's playing God, if you like, because it's going against nature," Mr Rudd's father, Richard, told the BBC.
As the Rudd family, including his two teen daughters, was preparing to say goodbye to him, attending consultant Professor David Menon discovered Richard was able to move his eyes to respond.
A speech therapist began to ask Mr Rudd 20 simple questions per day in an effort to demonstrate he had the capacity to answer if he wanted to continue medical treatment or stop it, ending his life.
Six months later Professor Menon asked him if he wanted to continue treatment and Mr Rudd responded "yes".
"I asked him again on three occasions he made it clear, just with yes/no answers, that this was his consistent response," Professor Menon said.
Mr Rudd is now able to make facial expressions.
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