Man in Coma Shows Signs of Life After Cocaine-Drink Poisoning
A man who drank a cocaine-laced soft drink from Colombia and collapsed in a coma last month showed apparent signs of life Tuesday, and doctors postponed shutting off his life support systems.
Maximo Rene Menendez, 25, has lain in a coma at AMI Kendall Regional Medical Center since July 26, when he downed a six-ounce bottle of Pony Malta containing 1,000 times the lethal dose of cocaine. Investigators believe the bottle was part of a drug-smuggling scheme that went awry.
His family received a court order Monday allowing doctors to disconnect his life support system after neurologists testified that he had no brain activity. But when a respirator was shut off Tuesday, he had a leg spasm and took shallow breaths, Dr. Armando Viedes said.
“If there are any signs of activity, we will be the first to try anything we can to bring the man back . . . but it’s very doubtful,” the doctor said.
Viedes said doctors would try new tests of Menendez’s brain activities before the family would decide how to proceed.
FBI officials, meanwhile, called a news conference Tuesday to warn consumers of Pony Malta, a Colombian soft drink, that 225 cases from a 1,000-case shipment have not been accounted for. All were believed distributed in South Florida.
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