Schumacher: Sabine Kehm Rejects the Latest Rumors

Recently, Spanish sources had allegedly quoted Sabine Kehm explaining that Michael Schumacher, hospitalized in Grenoble since December 29, 2013, could interact with his immediate environment, thus suggesting the possibility of a significant improvement in the situation of the former Ferrari and Mercedes driver, who was the victim of a serious skiing accident.

However, in La Gazzetta dello Sport, the manager of the German champion states that she has never made such statements: « I have never spoken to these journalists, and we have not issued any statement about Michael’s health condition. » After several hesitations at the time of Schumacher’s accident, communication around his case was taken over by his entourage within a few days, with doctors and relatives refusing to comment as long as there was no significant development in the situation. A guideline that has been maintained most of the time except when false rumors emerged.

Thus, the last official statement on the subject dates back to mid-April, when Sabine Kehm explained that the German was showing « small signs of progress ».

Some voices are questioning this drip-feed communication from Schumacher’s entourage. This is the case with Roger Benoit’s correspondent, who expresses his concern in the Swiss German daily Blick. He writes: “Gradually, everyone is genuinely worried. [The hospital in] Grenoble and the family have been silent for weeks. Why?”

This is also the case for Gary Hartstein. The former F1 doctor who worked alongside Sid Watkins is very pessimistic about the reasons for the silence surrounding Michael Schumacher. He writes in an article published on his blog on June 1: I see no possible reason why Michael’s entourage, who understandably want to protect their privacy, would not tell the fans if the situation was improving.

According to the statistics he knows about comatose patients with traumatic brain injury, assuming that Schumacher is in a minimally conscious state, which he considers the best scenario, he explains that there is a slight but real possibility of improvement in the quality of consciousness over several months to several years. That said, horrendously few patients in a minimally conscious state after six months end up speaking, walking, dressing themselves, etc.

He concluded by stating: « I am very afraid and I am almost certain that we will never have good news about Michael. At this point, I rather fear seeing the family release a press statement. » Fans still have hope that Gary Hartstein is wrong about the reasons for the silence from Michael Schumacher’s relatives.