She said Freddy suffered severe injuries from the impact of the fall that had left him in a medically induced coma and on life support at New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan as of Sunday evening.

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Mr Hughes, from Croydon was left in a coma and had to undergo three life-saving brain operations.

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He characterized as "totally false" rumors that Chavez is in a coma and that his family was discussing the possibility of taking him off life support.

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On the other hand, a doctor who sedates his patient as far as coma in order to cause death by starvation is intending to end a life.

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Ms. Dimond, 58 and living in New York, recalls the Sunday she watched her mother in a coma and was able to fulfill her wishes never to be kept on external life support.

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