Post-Surgery Mystery: 17-Year-Old Speaks Only Foreign Language, Confounding Experts

A 17-year-old boy in the Netherlands experienced a rare linguistic phenomenon following knee surgery. After waking from anesthesia, he spoke only English, despite previously being a Dutch speaker. This unexpected behavior puzzled medical staff, leading to a psychiatric consultation. Initially concerned it was emergence delirium, doctors later diagnosed him with foreign language syndrome (FLS). Remarkably, he regained comprehension of Dutch after 18 hours and spoke it again the next day. FLS, an extremely rare condition with only about nine documented cases, often occurs after anesthesia. Its exact cause remains uncertain, raising intriguing questions about language and cognitive processes following surgery.