Update: Sharon aides have left hospital, would not talk to reporters, were described as " ... reserved and grim-faced". A press conference has been announced, to take place about an hour from now, "pending developments".
Personal observation; sure not much there to inspire confidence in Sharon's prospects.
Sharon fighting for his life By Dan Williams
1 hour, 7 minutes ago
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a dominant figure for decades in shaping the Middle East, was fighting for his life on Thursday after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage.
"It looks very bad. I don't know if he will recover," said a senior political source after Sharon, 77, was rushed in an ambulance from his ranch in southern Israel to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem late on Wednesday.
Sharon's death or incapacitation would cause political upheaval in Israel ahead of a March 28 general election he had been expected to win on a platform of ending conflict with the Palestinians. He has been prime minister since 2001.
Hopes of any peace talks would be given another setback at a time of growing violence and increasing Palestinian turmoil.
"He has significant, massive cerebral bleeding ... the aim of the operation is to drain it," Hadassah hospital director Shmuel Shapira said.
Sharon was still in surgery after over five hours. His spokesman, Raanan Gissin, described his condition as stable.
But Haaretz newspaper said on its Web site that Sharon was paralyzed in half of his body, and medical experts agreed the prime minister was unlikely to pull through the operation without his faculties being at least seriously impaired.
"With all due caution, it appears as though the era of Sharon leading Israel has reached its tragic end," wrote Aluf Ben, Haaretz's diplomatic correspondent.
Sharon's prime ministerial powers were transferred temporarily to his deputy, Ehud Olmert, who was to hold an emergency cabinet meeting later. Recent polls have not shown Olmert to be seen as a long-term successor.
BUSH PRAYING
U.S. President George W. Bush, a close ally of Sharon, said "we are praying for his recovery."
"Prime Minister Sharon is a man of courage and peace. On behalf of all Americans, we send our best wishes and hopes to the prime minister and his family," Bush added.
Sharon, who raised optimism for Middle East peace by pulling settlers and soldiers out of the Gaza Strip last September to end 38 years of military rule, suffered what doctors described as a mild stroke on December 18.
He had been due to undergo an operation on Thursday at Hadassah to repair a tiny hole in his heart thought to have contributed to his stroke last month.
The hefty ex-general popularly known as "The Bulldozer" spent several days in hospital but plowed back into a punishing public schedule in recent weeks.
Opinion polls have shown Sharon was on course to win the March election as leader of the new centrist Kadima faction he founded after quitting the right-wing Likud party in the face of a party rebellion over the Gaza pullout.
He has campaigned on a platform of readiness to give up more occupied land in the West Bank as a way to end decades of conflict, but has vowed to keep Israel's hold on major settlement blocs.
BOLD STEPS
A large part of Sharon's popularity among Israelis stems from a belief that he could take bold steps that others would not get away with given his background as the archetypal hawk.
Palestinians have long suspected that Sharon's plans for ending conflict meant that he would dictate terms that would leave them only fragments of the state they seek.
Deputy Palestinian Prime Minister Nabil Shaath said he did not believe Sharon ever had any faith in the peace process, but his condition would increase uncertainty over getting back to negotiations.
Battered by Sharon's harsh measures to fight a five-year-old uprising, militant factions reacted with glee.
"The whole region will be better off with him absent," said powerful Islamic group Hamas. "Sharon was the one who carried out massacres and terrorism for decades against our people."
In Washington, White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley briefed Bush on Sharon's condition.
Bush has relied heavily on Sharon as he attempts to coax Israelis and Palestinians into a peace agreement. He scolded Sharon after the prime minister's stroke in December to watch what he eats and get more exercise.
Sharon's health crisis was likely to further slow Bush's quest for two states, Palestine and Israel, living in peace.
Hopes for progress were already dwindling given the possibility of a delay to a January 25 Palestinian election and growing internal unrest in the Gaza Strip and West Bank as well as an increase in violence with Israel.
"I don't think we're going to have any efforts for a while," said Edward Walker, president of the Middle East Institute and a former U.S. ambassador to Israel.
"I don't see how you can marry up the Palestinians with the Israelis when both are undergoing leadership crises."
Sharon's old foe Yasser Arafat, an iconic leader for the Palestinians, died in November 2004 when a brain hemorrhage ended weeks of illness.
(Additional reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Jeffrey Heller, Corinne Heller, Ori Lewis in Jerusalem, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Steve Holland in Washington)
_________________________
Not as recent as Timber's. Just a narrative for anyone who wants to read it.
oralloy wrote:Lash wrote:What's he been doing? I haven't been following news from Israel in depth. Is he in Kadima?
He left the Labor Party, but he didn't formally join Kadima.
But he
is fully supporting Kadima, and was expected to have a cabinet position in any new Sharon/Kadima government.
That's very hopeful, considering. Thanks.
This ain't encouraging at all:
Quote:Sharon's Latest Stroke a Less Common Kind but More Deadly
A cerebral hemorrhage occurs when blood from a weakened vessel escapes into the skull.
By Thomas H. Maugh II and Karen Kaplan, Times Staff Writers
Hemorrhagic strokes, characterized by bleeding in the brain, are less common than strokes caused by blood clots but are usually more lethal.
An estimated 17% of strokes are caused by the rupture of a weakened blood vessel in the brain, and fewer than half of people who suffer such strokes survive beyond one month, according to the American Heart Assn.
Many of those who do survive, moreover, suffer debilitating injuries, including such problems as speech impairment and paralysis.
"This is probably one of the most critical neurological conditions that we face," said Dr. David S. Liebeskind of the UCLA Stroke Center. "It's a very serious and, unfortunately, common disorder. We deal with this on a daily basis."
Damage to the brain in a hemorrhagic stroke, also known as a cerebral hemorrhage, occurs as blood escaping into the skull cavity increases pressure on brain cells, impairing their function and eventually killing them.
The outlook for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who suffered a hemorrhagic stroke Wednesday, is worsened by the fact that he is overweight and has been receiving blood thinners in the aftermath of a stroke he suffered in mid-December.
Blood thinners reduce the blood's ability to clot and naturally seal off any leakage that might occur in a vessel in the brain, making a bleeding episode worse than it might otherwise have been.
Sharon's chance of surviving the stroke is probably less than 20%, estimated Dr. Philip Stieg, chairman of the department of neurological surgery at Cornell University's Weill Medical College in New York City.
"It's extremely unlikely that he is going to come out of this being a walking, talking individual," Stieg said. "We're talking about a 77-year-old guy who's morbidly obese. The prognosis for him is extremely grim."
Physicians were uncertain if Sharon's stroke Wednesday was related to the one Dec. 18. Stieg noted that about 5% to 10% of clot-induced strokes are followed by a hemorrhagic stroke, in part because the original stroke kills some brain tissue and weakens nearby blood vessels.
The weakened vessel walls are then more vulnerable to rupture due to high blood pressure and other risk factors.
The chief priority in treating a hemorrhagic stroke is to drain off the excess blood to reduce pressure and to seal off the source of bleeding. The latter can be a very difficult ?- and sometimes impossible ?- task, depending on where the rupture is.
The normal way to achieve the sealing-off is through conventional surgery, but UCLA and some other institutions are investigating ways to place a catheter into the brain through an artery, both to drain off excess blood and to seal the wound.
Beyond that, Liebeskind said, treatment "is really just supportive care ?- making sure blood pressure is not high, making sure the patient is well hydrated and doesn't have a fever, which can worsen the outcome."
It was mentioned Tuesday that Peres was expected to be appointed Foreign Miniister in the new cabinet November election-winner Sharon was forming following Sunday's announcement of the impending resignation of the 4 remaining Likud cabinet ministers (7 others switched to Kadim and were slated to remain); Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Education Minister Limor Livnat, Health Minister Danny Naveh and Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz were to formally submit their resignations at the next weekly cabinet meeting, which of course now has been postponed.
If nothing else, Peres must be considered a strong frontrunner as Sharon's replacement at the head of Kadim, even with Olmert at present functionally at the head of the government.
Update: The press conference just concluded; little news, it was more a statement than a press conference, no questions taken or answered, there have been "complications", the "operation will continue" (it now is entering its 8th hour), apparently with periods of surgery interspersed with periods of drug treatment and observation. It was announced the intercranial bleeding has not been stopped.
yikes..... 8 hours of bleeding?
From the New York Times:
Hemorrhages in the brain while the patient is taking blood thinners "are usually devastating events," said Dr. Matthew E. Fink, chief of the Division of Stroke and Critical Care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "This sounds really terrible."
Statistically, the likelihood of death is greater than 80 percent, Dr. Fink said.
http://nytimes.com/2006/01/05/international/05medical.html
Reuters is now reporting doctors have stopped the bleeding in Sharon's brain, that his vital signs are "stable", and that he has been transferred from surgery to the neurological critical care unit. His condition was described by a hospital spokesman as "extremely critical". Israeli news commentators in the past quarter hour or so have been using the word "grave" to describe Sharon's condition. There has been no talk I've noticed of "recovery".
I can't help but wonder how much effect the loss of Sharon as head of state will effect the course of the peace process. He at this point was it's strength
Pat Robertson has once again grabbed headlines and drawn criticism for his political comments - this time suggesting that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for "dividing God's land."
Walter Hinteler wrote:Pat Robertson has once again grabbed headlines and drawn criticism for his political comments - this time suggesting that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for "dividing God's land."
Oh, for Pete's sake. Just when you think Pat Robertson can't disgrace himself any further, he opens his mouth again. He had prostate cancer surgery a couple of years ago and his brother died of lung cancer last year. Wonder what he thinks that was punishment for? Geesh.
au1929 wrote:I can't help but wonder how much effect the loss of Sharon as head of state will effect the course of the peace process. He at this point was it's strength
I agree.
Acting PM Olmert convened a special meeting today. Not many details, but here's the report:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3195511,00.html
all life is sacred (with exceptions)
Dunno so much as there's exceptions as there are differing qualitative analyses - sorta like a cost-benefit thing going on there.
I am continually amazed at what an incredible, useless jackass Robertson is.
I have to say I utterly despise people who try to blame people for death and illness, as if any of us will avoid death--though I bet that ass Robertson thinks he will.
I'd like to slap his fat stupid face.
JustWonders wrote:Oh, for Pete's sake. Just when you think Pat Robertson can't disgrace himself any further, he opens his mouth again. He had prostate cancer surgery a couple of years ago and his brother died of lung cancer last year. Wonder what he thinks that was punishment for? Geesh.
maybe it's his choice of hobbies?
Quote:Check out Pat's favorite things.
Hobby:
Starting companies/Financial transactions
http://www.patrobertson.com/FastFacts/FavoriteThings.asp
financial transactions = deposits from 700 Club faithful ?
