22:52 Nov 3, 2011 

14:13 Nov 3, 2011 

I definitely think that Ron's research merits points for a correct answer :)

14:09 Nov 3, 2011 

To the Rons - Thank you for your insights - I had thought that 'zin' was missing but it was the 'strekte' that had thrown me. A decerebrated posture would very likely fit with this patient's injury. Many thanks to you both.
Please feel free to enter it as an answer as I'm happy to award points.

13:56 Nov 3, 2011 

omission of "zin" seems the most probable explanation

13:10 Nov 3, 2011 

I guess that the sentence should have read 'in die *zin* dat ...', i.e. 'in the sense that'.

Regarding the 'stretching' part, I found the following link that may be pertinent:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003299.htm

It is an article about 'Decerebrate posture', which is defined as follows:
'Decerebrate posture is an abnormal body posture that involves the arms and legs being held straight out, the toes being pointed downward, and the head and neck being arched backwards.'

Among the causes 'head injury' and 'Increased pressure in the brain from any cause' are mentioned.

HTH