Gary Dockery

Gary French Dockery (October 15, 1953 – April 15, 1997) was an American police officer in Walden, Tennessee. After being critically injured in 1988, he spent seven-and-a-half years in a coma-like state. In 1996, he emerged from the coma and started talking enthusiastically, recognizing friends and recalling events from past years. He then fell back into a coma and died a year later.

Biography

On September 17, 1988, he was shot in the forehead by a drunken assailant as he responded to a domestic disturbance call. He slipped into what doctors called a persistent vegetative state, unable to communicate except occasionally with eye blinks and groans — indicating that part of his brain was still working. Although he could respond, he was not conscious.

He had a serious case of pneumonia and underwent lung surgery and on February 11, 1996, he stirred and started talking, recognizing old friends, recalling the names of his horses, and recalling camping trips. By the second day he had largely become silent again.

A year later, on April 15, 1997, he died at the age of 43 from a blood clot in his lung. Dockery was transported from his nursing home to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he was pronounced dead at 9:52 a.m.

See also

• List of people who awoke from a coma