New York Times Blog: November 1, 2010

Once again, I picked my story based on the accompanying picture. This picture is quite haunting, it shows a man lying in bed looking towards the camera with his mouth open and an older woman sitting in back gazing out a window. Not until I read the title, "From a Shelter, Parents Fight for a Comatose Son" by Raphael Minder did I realize the man had been in a vegetative state since surgery in 1989. 21 years ago, Madrid law student and mountaineerer, Antonio Ortego slipped into a coma after being accidentally deprived of oxygen while having cosmetic surgery on his nose. His family has been in an ongoing legal battle causing them to lose their fruit store, house, and $555,000 of dept sue to medical and legal bills. Last year, after receiving a permit to protest, Ortego's mother, Juana, 65 and her husband have been living in a makeshift, blue-tarp shelter outside of the Justice Ministry. Authorities have turned a blind eye. A sign outside their shelter reads, "Where is justice? In a coma?" The only signs of life Ortego is capable of besides bodily functions, is twitching, sweating, and blinking. When asked if e will ever abandon this legal battle, Ortego's father, also Antonio said, "if being a father means anything, it must mean remaining strong and present in the hardest of times" Mrs. Ortego talks about the last few decades not with sadness or anger but with hope, "We've received here the respect and attention sadly denied to us by the judicial system," she said, "ordinary folks can relate to us, unlike these big and powerful judges who see us just as case numbers."