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Doctors say Sharon out of immediate danger
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-11 08:34
Doctors reported progress Tuesday by Ariel Sharon, saying the Israeli leader
moved his left hand and appeared to respond to his sons' voices in new signs of
recovery from a massive stroke.
But while doctors said Sharon was no longer in immediate danger, they
cautioned it would be days before they could determine the full extent of the
damage he suffered from a brain hemorrhage and whether he has lost his ability
to think and reason.
"I think compared with recent days ... there are significant changes in the
prime minister's condition. But we still have a long way to go, and we have to
be patient," said Dr. Yoram Weiss, one of Sharon's anesthesiologists.
Sharon suffered a massive stroke Jan. 4 and underwent three surgeries to stop
hemorrhaging on the right side of his brain. He has been kept in a medically
induced coma to give him time to recover.
Omri Sharon, left, the son of ailing Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, reads a statement to members of the media
outside the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, where his father remains in
critical condition, Tuesday Jan. 10,
2006.[AP] | Israelis were stunned at the illness
of their 77-year-old leader and have intensely followed updates on his
condition. Some made pilgrimages to Hadassah Hospital, gathering outside to
pray, hanging up posters of support and offering letters of well wishes, many
written by children.
Israeli police said crime in the country had fallen 50 percent since Sharon's
stroke. "It's hard to explain, but since the prime minister became ill there
seems to have been a change in people's behavior patterns, their way of
thinking," police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.
In his first public statement since his father's stroke, Sharon's son Omri
said the family was grateful for the outpouring of support.
"I came to thank, in the name of my family, the citizens of Israel, who since
Wednesday have supported us with their concern, with warm and loving prayers for
the well-being of my father," he told reporters outside the hospital. "In
addition, I want to send our great appreciation and thanks to Hadassah Hospital,
the medical team treating my father and his personal doctors who have been
working day and night to treat the prime minister."
Also Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called acting Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert to check on Sharon and renew the Bush administration's
support for establishment of a Palestinian state.
Sharon suffered an initial, minor stroke Dec. 18, which doctors said was
caused when a blood clot escaped through a small hole in his heart. Doctors
prescribed blood thinners ahead of a planned procedure to close the hole.
Outside experts said the blood thinners could have worsened Sharon's brain
hemorrhage.
Mor-Yosef said Tuesday that doctors had discovered after Sharon's initial
stroke that he suffered from cerebral amyloid angiopathy, a disease that can
cause brain bleeding, particularly in the elderly. The revelation raised
questions about the doctors' decision to prescribe blood thinners.
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