San Juan, Puerto Rico – Hector “Macho” Camacho is brain dead after being shot in the face, El Nuevo Dia reports.
Rafael Rodriguez Mercado, the director of neuroendovascular surgery at the University of Puerto Rico, said, “His recuperation will be a miracle; medically, there is nothing we can do.”
An EEG was conducted on Camacho to confirm whether the ex-boxer truly was brain dead. El Nuevo Dia reported that, last night, Camacho’s brain activity was only 3 percent on the Glasgow scale, which measures a patient’s conscious state. A 3 signifies deep unconsciousness.
Camacho was shot in the face while in his car with a friend near a shopping mall in the town of Bayamon. Dr. Ernesto Torres, the medical center’s director said Wednesday morning that Camacho’s chances of survival were slim. He also said doctors would be able to keep him alive with the help of a respirator.
Torres also added that Camacho had a brief heart attack around 4:15 am local time. He said the doctors gave him medicine, and his heart started pumping again, but his cerebral activity was very low.
Camacho’s mother, Maria Matias, will have to make a decision about whether or not to donate her son’s organs after more studies are conducted. According to Camacho’s godson, Widniel Adorno, Matias suffered a nervous breakdown in the waiting area.
Torres said, however, that two different doctors have to declare Camache brain dead and that it is a process to get to that diagnosis. He said it will take another EEG to confirm and hoped to have an official diagnosis by tonight or tomorrow.
