JERUSALEM — The family of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has
ordered doctors to keep him in a coma, Middle East Newsline reported.
Sharon was to have been removed from a medically-induced coma on Jan. 6,
government sources said. But Sharon's family and aides objected and ordered
that the prime minister remain comatose for as long as possible in the hope
that he would survive a massive stroke.
"He's on life-support systems and he's in a deep coma," a government
source said. "If he was anybody else, the plug would have been pulled and he
would have been declared dead."
On Sunday, physicians at Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital planned to again
seek permission from Sharon's two sons to end the coma. The physicians said
this could determine whether three brain operations in as many days
succeeded in saving the prime minister's life.
"If there is no response, that would be bad news," Hadassah director Dr.
Shlomo Mor-Yosef said.
[On Friday, there were conflicting reports on Sharon's condition.
A dispatch by Middle East Newsline reported Sharon had been declared dead by physicians at Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital
before 1 p.m. Israeli time [6 a.m. EST]. Authorities had already been
notified of the death, and a government announcement was expected to be
issued over the next hour, the report continued.
However Reuters and AP reported Sharon had survived emergency surgery to stem fresh bleeding in his brain. "During the surgery the cranial pressure was released and some of the blood clots that remained from the previous surgery were drained," Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, director of Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital, told reporters.]
On Jan. 6, Israeli authorities were informed that Sharon was dead and
placed on alert for the removal of his body, according to Middle East Newsline. But the sources said Sharon's
family insisted that he remain on life-support systems despite quiet
contacts with the United States over funeral arrangements.
The sources said Sharon's chief aide, Dov Weisglass, has sought the
attendance of President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
for the prime minister's funeral. On Jan. 6, Ms. Rice canceled a trip to
Asia to prepare for the prospect of Sharon's death.
"It is very important for Bush to attend the funeral and later meet with
[Vice Premier] Ehud Olmert," a source said. "It would be a sign of Bush's
friendship and respect for Sharon and his path."
Sharon's elder son, Omri, was said to have played the key role in
determining medical treatment for his father. The sources said Omri,
regarded as the second most powerful politician in Israel, ordered
physicians to operate on his father when he was rushed to the hospital with
a massive cerebral hemorrhage on Jan. 4. The prime minister had been
scheduled to undergo heart surgery the following day.
On Dec. 18, Sharon, 77, sustained a minor stroke, which resulted in a
two-day hospital stay. Several days later, the prime minister, running for
reelection, returned to work in an attempt to quell concerns over his
health.
"Sharon was allowed to do things that very few people in his medical
situation would have gotten away with," a physician familiar with the
treatment the prime minister received said. "He was allowed to leave the
hospital and return to work within days of his stroke, even though the
chance of recurrence was high."
The physician said Sharon was given an excessive dosage of blood
thinner, which he said exacerbated the second stroke. He said the prime
minister's chance of recovery was nil.
"Sharon's doctors were the best in the world and the treatment was the
best," the physician said. "But there were major mistakes made, particularly
after the first stroke."
