[derangedHorse]

The original commentator's point still stands. The initial post-operative complications were chalked up to brain swelling in the end and the lasting damage was fairly minor for the procedure being conducted. All mentions of fear from the operation were attributed to the surgeon performing the operation rather than Dr.Kennedy who was undergoing the surgery.

Another thing to take note of is that Kennedy mentioned the permanent damage had occurred "when he was putting the electronics in", which implies it happened during the second operation (the first operation with the seemingly severe symptoms were for the electrodes).

No where in the article does it indicate his mind was ever close to being lost besides the headline. It even took note to say he stayed in a villa during recovery which the surgeon made daily visits to (with the implication being a hospital would have been best for around-the-clock monitoring if his well-being was truly in danger).

Also, it's against Hacker News guidelines to ask whether someone read the article or not:

'Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that."'

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html