Ariel Sharon remains in critical condition after emergent surgery

Doctors had to perform an emergent situation on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to remove a part of his intestines on Saturday. The operation took place more than five weeks after Sharon suffered a massive stroke.

Photo: Ariel Sharon remains in critical condition after emergent surgery

The medics say there is no immediate danger to the PM's life. Doctors removed nearly two feet of Ariel Sharon's severely damaged large intestine during the surgery. There was no immediate threat to the comatose prime minister's life, a hospital official said. The surgery has become his seventh operation in five weeks, after an abdominal scan disclosed severe damage to his digestive tract.

Sharon has been in a coma at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem for five weeks, attached to breathing and feeding tubes. His condition deteriorated early on Saturday.

An abdominal scan showed that blood was not reaching parts of his intestines and that his digestive tract had suffered severe damage. “His life is in danger and his condition can be described as critical and unstable," Ron Krumer, a spokesman for Hadassah-Ein Karem Hospital, said before the operation was complete.

Sharon, who masterminded Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon and its withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, was a former general known for his strategic prowess that earned him the enmity of Arabs. He won the nickname “bulldozer” for his role in building Israel's settlements in Gaza and the West Bank.

While Sharon showed limited signs of mental activity and motor ability since his surgery last month, he hasn't returned to consciousness. He has been able to breathe independently and responded to the stimulus of painful pressure by moving his hands and legs.

Source: agencies