Sharon Surgery Is Delayed By Lung Infection
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Sharon has a respiratory infection that has forced doctors to delay surgery on the comatose Israeli leader, the hospital caring for him said yesterday.
Mr.Sharon, 78, was to undergo surgery yesterday to reattach a portion of his skull removed after his January 4 stroke.
Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital said the operation was delayed due to a “slight infection” discovered in Mr. Sharon’s respiratory tract during a routine examination yesterday. The infection was being treated with antibiotics.
A hospital spokesman, Ron Krumer, said the operation was routine for someone in Mr. Sharon’s condition. Leaving the skull open could invite infection, he said.
He declined to say why doctors decided now was the time to reattach the skull and acknowledged the procedure was not without risk.
“There is no surgery without risks. The minute that you treat a person, and especially in his head, there are risks,” Mr. Krumer said.
He said doctors would not operate until the infection is gone.
“There are no rules to how long it could take to go away. It could take one day, it could take two days, it could take two weeks,” Mr. Krumer told the Associated Press.
Israel’s Army Radio described the skull surgery as the last step before Mr. Sharon is moved to a long-term care facility. Mr. Sharon has been at Hadassah since the stroke, during which time he has undergone surgery seven times.
