Ariel Sharon responds by moving his right hand, right leg

Doctors have announced Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon responded by moving his right hand and right leg after doctors stimulated him on Monday. Doctors began removing Sharon from a medically induced coma on Monday morning. Director of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, said Sharon remain in a "severe and critical" condition, but has some signs of brain activity.

"The first reaction was spontaneous breathing of the Prime Minister even though he was still connected to the ventilator. During the day, until now, his response to pain, that we evoked, he started to move minimally his right hand and right leg. These signs together with the slight elevation of his blood pressure as a reaction to the pain, are signs of some activities of his brain."

The Chief neurosurgeon treating Sharon, Dr. Felix Umansky, said it is still too early to say what impact the massive bleeding Sharon suffered in the right part of his brain will have on his cognitive abilities. "We are just at the beginning of a long way that he needs to undergo. We need to be very cautious when talking about the prognosis, but we are going to do everything we can to help him pull through this situation,” reports the AP. I.L.