JERUSALEM - Medical experts warned Monday that former Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon's deteriorating condition could put his life in danger, while the
hospital treating him said it would run more tests to find the cause of his
downturn.
A file photo shows Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon looks at his watch as he attends a session of the
Knesset in Jerusalem in this July 12, 2004.
[Reuters] |
The Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv
said Sunday the former leader's kidneys were failing and that changes were
detected in his brain membrane. Sharon, 78, has been in a coma since suffering a
severe stroke in January.
A hospital spokeswoman refused to say whether his life was threatened.
Two of Sharon's former aides, who said they spoke to his son, Gilad, said
Sunday there was no immediate danger to the former leader's life. The former
aides spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
discuss the matter with the media.
But Dr. John Martin, a cardiovascular expert at London's University College,
said the kidney failure and the changes in the brain membrane that Sharon
suffered in the past two days indicated the former leader's life was in danger.
His comments were echoed by other physicians quoted in Israeli media.
Kidney dialysis and drugs to treat what appears to be cerebral edema could
lead to an improvement in Sharon's condition within hours, Martin said. But many
physicians would choose not to take such steps when a patient has been in a coma
for more than seven months, he added.
"This is a significant decrease in his condition," Martin told The Associated
Press. "Shall we give dialysis or shall we let him die ... most European
physicians would consider this at this point."
Dr. Anthony Rudd, a stroke expert at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, said
doctors could put Sharon on dialysis but treatment was becoming "increasingly
futile," adding that at Sharon's age and in his condition, once one organ fails
the others soon follow.
"If they're issuing reports that he's deteriorating, it would be unlikely he
could deteriorate much further and survive," Rudd said.
Sharon, Israel's most popular politician, had a small stroke in December and
was put on blood thinners before suffering a severe brain hemorrhage in January.
The Israeli leader underwent several, extensive brain surgeries to stop the
bleeding, and many independent experts doubted he would ever recover.
