Schumacher may never recover due to serious lapses of judgment in medical care: Ex-F1 doctor

Sydney: The former chief medical officer of Formula One has said that he believes that the comatose Michael Schumacher will never recover as there have been `serious lapses of judgment` in his ongoing medical care.

The retired seven-time German champion has now been in a coma for 87 days since a ski accident at the French Alps during a family holiday and is undergoing treatment at a Grenoble hospital. According to News.com.au, F1 sport`s chief doctor between 2005 and 2012, Gary Hartstein said that it is now unlikely that the Ferrari legend would ever recover as he had information from `usually impeccable sources` that Schumacher`s care had been mismanaged. Stating that it becomes less likely that Schumacher will emerge to any significant extent as time goes on, Hartstein said that the lapses `could, and almost certainly did, worsen the outcome in the F1 legend`s case`. Hartstein also said that the `terribly dismal prognosis` of Schumacher`s long-term recovery prospects had led to the doctors at the Grenoble hospital discouraging his family to transfer him to a specialised clinic better equipped to deal with people in long-term comas. Hartstein also said that it is also possible that the staff at Grenoble hospital felt duty-bound to not place any pressure on the family to transfer Schumacher to another hospital because of the `clear (but unquantifiable) contribution of medical misjudgment to that prognosis`.