Only a 'miracle' could save Ariel Sharon's life, doctor says

While his heartbeat and blood pressure have stabilized, his kidneys and lungs have not returned to function.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Former Israel prime minister Ariel Sharon gazes at the West Bank (photo credit: Reuters)
Former Israel prime minister Ariel Sharon gazes at the West Bank
(photo credit: Reuters)
The danger to former prime minister Ariel Sharon’s life has escalated, Sheba Medical Center director Prof. Ze’ev Rotstein said Monday.
Sharon has been in critical condition for more than a week.
While his heartbeat and blood pressure have stabilized, his kidneys and lungs have not recovered.
“His situation will continue to deteriorate unless there is the kind of upheaval that would be a miracle,” Rotstein said.
Rotstein declined to speculate on how much longer the former prime minister has to live.
He said the stabilizing of Sharon’s blood pressure was not enough of an improvement to help him, and other organs are continuing to deteriorate.
Dr. Shlomo Noy, who has personally treated Sharon since his debilitating stroke eight years ago, told Channel 2 that the central goal of his current treatment is to minimize the former prime minister’s suffering.
Noy said Sharon was in a state of “minimal consciousness” and denied that Sharon received special treatment that kept him alive.
When asked why Sharon was not allowed to die sooner – to stop his suffering – he said “doctors do not end the lives of their patients.”