[Iceman]

Doctors battling to save the life of Formula One legend Michael Schumacher reportedly have no plans to wake him from the coma.

The seven-time German world champion has been in a medically-induced coma after he suffered severe brain injuries in a French Alps skiing crash in late December.

According to the Mirror, neurosurgeons at the hospital in Grenoble where the former Ferrari racer is being treated have still not revealed any date when they may try to bring him out of the coma, while some experts fear that he may remain in a permanent vegetative state for the rest of his life.

The report mentioned that Schumacher is still classed as critically ill following the December 29 accident when he smashed his skull against a rock while skiing, and medical experts said that the prognosis for a recovery so long after being on life-support machines does not bode well.

The report further said that the medical intention of an induced coma is to decrease the brain's need for oxygen to ease its workload and therefore give it time to recover, although the longer the coma is induced, the bleaker the chances become.

It was the fear of a brain haemorrhage, if Schumacher is awoken, which has made his medical team keep him under, with an expert saying that even if Schumacher wakes up, his memory could be 'wiped out'.

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