The North Koreans' Negotiation Strategy

The North Koreans ask Mike to write a medical report on Otto Warnebier. They think his condition might be down to botulism or an adverse reaction to sleeping pills he'd been given to calm his anxiety. After examining Otto, Mike still can't be sure what caused him to lose consciousness. He's in a state of non-responsive wakefulness, what used to be called a persistent vegetative state. And that's much more serious because you can recover from a coma. But Otto has permanent brain damage and will never recover.