Austrian president died at age 71

Quote:

Outgoing Austrian President Thomas Klestil is in hospital in a critical condition after suffering a heart attack.

Austrian emergency services said Mr Klestil was flown by emergency helicopter from his Vienna residence to a hospital in the capital.

"The heart failure and resuscitation took place in his villa. His bodyguard resuscitated him and called for emergency doctors," a spokesman said.

Mr Klestil, 71, is due to end his second six-year term on Thursday and hand over the office to Social Democrat Heinz Fischer, elected in April.

The head of state has mostly representative functions, but his voice counts on important issues and he can influence the formation of a government.

Brings to mind, the number of heart attacks that Cheney has had... Likewise, the fact that his cardiologist is addicted to prescription meds.

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VIENNA (Reuters) - "Hope is limited and receding" that Austrian President Thomas Klestil would survive after his heart stopped beating twice, triggering failings in other major organs, the doctor leading his treatment said on Tuesday.
Klestil was under sedation and on artificial respiration after he suffered heart failure on Monday at the start of a week when he was due to step down from office.

"We have actually reached the limit of the medically possible," Dr. Gottfried Locker, the head of intensive medicine at Vienna's General Hospital, where Klestil is being treated, told Austrian state television.

Doctors treating 71-year-old Klestil said the heart failures and resulting shortage of oxygen had triggered problems in other major organs, including the president's liver, kidneys and lungs.

Locker said Klestil's heart function was stable but the state of his liver and kidneys was worsening progressively.

"We have to say that hope is very limited and receding," Dr. Christoph Zielinski, the doctor leading the team treating Klestil, told a news conference.

"We are in a very serious situation," Zielinski said.

Doctors said they could not rule out brain damage caused by oxygen starvation but would have to wait and see when Klestil was taken off sedation.

He could be kept under sedation for at least two weeks to reduce the strain on his body.

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian President Thomas Klestil, who helped restore the presidency's image after a Nazi-era controversy that dogged his predecessor, has died aged 71 on the eve of his departure from office.

Doctors had said earlier on Tuesday they could do nothing but hope and pray for Klestil's survival after his heart twice stopped beating on Monday, triggering multiple organ failure.

"I'm sorry to have to inform you that the president, Dr Thomas Klestil, has died on July 6 at 11:33 p.m. local time (23:33 p.m.), due to a continuing deterioration of his inner organs," Dr Christoph Zielinski, the doctor leading the team treating Klestil at Vienna General Hospital, told a news conference.

Zielinski said Klestil's family was at his bedside when he died and declined to give any further details. Klestil was read the last rites on Monday.

Klestil, who in 1996 was hospitalised twice with breathing difficulties, was under sedation and on artificial respiration. He was due to step down on Thursday after two six-year terms and hand over his largely ceremonial post to Social Democrat Heinz Fischer.

Klestil won the respect, if not the affection, of Austrians for repairing much of the damage to the country's international image caused by revelations about former president and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim's role in the German army under Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.