Former Israeli PM Sharon in critical condition

Associated Press

JERUSALEM

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma for eight years, was in critical condition Thursday, clinging to life after a decline in the functioning of various bodily organs, his doctors said.

Dr. Zeev Rotstein, director of Tel Hashomer hospital, said Sharon’s condition had deteriorated over the past two days and that a number of vital organs, including his kidneys, were suffering from “critical malfunction.” His family was at his bedside, he added.

“He is in critical condition, and his life is definitely in danger,” Rotstein told reporters at the hospital, just outside Tel Aviv. “The feeling of the doctors treating him and also that of the family with him is that there is a turn for the worse.”

Israeli TV stations were broadcasting live from the hospital where they reported all the comings and goings while special retrospectives on his life were aired along with interviews with old friends and political allies. Old interviews with him were shown, highlighting the charming, grandfatherly image he cultivated later in life. Sharon’s medical condition also dominated the front pages of newspapers and radio shows all day.