"Doctor: Polish boy found in freezing cold improves" Associated Press December 04, 2014
WARSAW — A 2-year-old boy who was found unconscious and outdoors in sub-freezing temperatures while wearing few clothes has been brought out of an induced coma and is improving, a doctor said Wednesday.
It is not clear whether the boy suffered any permanent brain damage, but he is moving his hands and legs, and sometimes opens his eyes, said Dr. Janusz Skalski, a heart surgeon at the Krakow children’s hospital.
The boy — identified by police only by his first name, Adam — remains on a respirator and medication that is helping in the healing process, and his parents are with him, Skalski said.
‘‘The child is improving,’’ the doctor said. ‘‘We have no negative signs from him, but we will be sure that we have success when he starts to play with toys.’’
Adam’s temperature was 54 degrees and his heart was beating once every few dozen seconds when he was brought to the hospital on Sunday after apparently being outdoors for several hours.
He was medically put into coma and attached to the respirator and to other machines that gradually raised his temperature to normal.
A police officer found the boy Sunday morning lying face down in leaves under a tree by a creek in the village of Raclawice, near Krakow. He was wearing only socks and a pajama top. The area’s temperature had fallen to 19 degrees overnight.
The boy was staying with his grandmother, who said she didn’t see him leave her home.
In an interview on Poland’s TVN24 on Wednesday, the boy’s father said that his son may have been sleepwalking when he left the dwelling.
Polish media say the grandmother remains hospitalized in a state of shock.
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