Ariel Sharon deteriorates further

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/06/ariel-sharon-deteriorates-further-israel

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The medical condition of Israel's former prime minister Ariel Sharon is deteriorating further and only a miracle can stop the decline, the head of the hospital treating him said.

Dr Zeev Rotstein, director of the Sheba medical centre near Tel Aviv, said the comatose Sharon remained in a life-threatening condition.

"Unless there is a turn on the level of a miracle, his condition will get worse and worse from day to day," Rotstein told reporters at the hospital.

He said that while doctors had managed to stabilise some of Sharon's bodily functions, several vital organs, including his kidneys, were still in a decline.

Sharon, 85, has been in a coma for eight years after a devastating stroke incapacitated him at the peak of his political power. The hospital announced last week his health had dramatically worsened.

Sharon was one of Israel's most controversial figures and his career stretched across the nation's 65-year history. As a politician, he became known as "the bulldozer" – a man contemptuous of his critics while also capable of getting things done. He was elected prime minister in 2001.

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