Sharon medical team pushes forward to end coma

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s medical team pushed forward with efforts to bring him out of an induced coma today, a day after reporting slight progress in the Israeli leader’s recovery from a debilitating stroke.

Meanwhile, an Israeli newspaper raised new questions about whether doctors’ errors might have contributed to last Wednesday’s stroke.

The Haaretz daily said Sharon was suffering from a brain disease, called cerebral amyloid angiopathy, that, in combination with blood thinners he was taking, could have increased his risk for stroke, the newspaper said.

If doctors had known about the condition, they would not have prescribed the blood thinners, the paper said, quoting an unidentified member of Sharon’s medical team. However, the report said the condition sometimes can be diagnosed only after a brain haemorrhage.

Sharon was given the blood thinners after suffering a mild stroke on December 18, but the brain condition was discovered only after the second stroke, Haaretz said.

Hadassah Hospital spokeswoman Yael Bossem Levy declined to comment on the report. “We are busy treating the prime minister and fighting for his life and nothing else,” she said.

Hospital officials said Sharon’s condition did not change overnight, and he remained in critical but stable condition this morning. He was still unconscious.

Doctors planned to continue reducing Sharon’s level of sedation today, in a gradual process aimed at bringing him out of an induced coma. Hospital officials planned an announcement at 5pm (1500 GMT).

He was placed in the coma after last week’s stroke to give him time to heal from two rounds of brain surgery.

Sharon started breathing on his own yesterday, though he remained hooked up to a respirator as a backup, and moved his right arm and leg in response to pain stimulation.

Sharon’s response is a “very important” sign and indicated his brain stem is working, said his chief surgeon, Dr. Felix Umansky. It is still too early, however, to assess what impact the massive bleeding he suffered in his right brain would have on his abilities to think and reason or on the left side of his body, Umansky said.

“We are just at the beginning of a very long way,” the surgeon said.

A final medical analysis on Sharon’s long-term prognosis would end days of uncertainty over the fate of the 77-year-old prime minister, heralded by many as the best hope for Mideast peace. Doctors said his chances of survival are better, but he is far from out of danger.

Before the stroke, Sharon had been expected to handily win re-election in March 28 parliamentary balloting, then use his third term to try to draw Israel’s final borders by pulling out of large parts of the West Bank and completing a separation barrier with the Palestinians.

More clarity on Sharon’s condition might enable his new, centrist Kadima Party to select a successor and start campaigning. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - Sharon’s ally and a proponent of unilateral withdrawals from more Palestinian-claimed lands – is seen as the most likely heir.

Sharon has not yet opened his eyes. His doctors hope he will resume consciousness when the sedative levels are lowered further, though outside experts cautioned there was no assurance he would wake up at all.

The doctors’ final assessment on Sharon’s brain damage, whenever it comes, will be presented to Attorney General Meni Mazuz, who will decide whether to declare the prime minister permanently incapacitated.

In the event of such a ruling, the Cabinet would have to elect a prime minister within 24 hours, from among the five sitting Kadima Cabinet ministers, said Justice Ministry spokesman Yaakov Galanti.

The Palestinians’ political future, which was to be decided in January 25 parliament elections, also appeared in limbo.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas reiterated yesterday that the vote would take place on time, but Interior Minister Nasser Yousef warned that his security forces would not be able to protect polling stations against gunmen.

Some have worried that gangs from Abbas’ Fatah Party may attack polling stations if Fatah appears to be losing to the Islamic militant Hamas party.

Amid uncertainty over Sharon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was sending two envoys to the Middle East to try to resolve a dispute over the participation of Arab residents of Jerusalem in the Palestinian parliament election.

Abbas has said such participation is a requisite for holding the election, and he said he had received US assurances Palestinians would be able to vote in the city. But Israeli and Palestinian officials said Tuesday that no deal had been reached.

Israel fears the vote would undermine its claim to the city, but Palestinians insist on voting in east Jerusalem, which they claim as capital of a future state.