Sharon in critical condition after surgery
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-12 14:21

Since the stroke, Sharon has been hooked up to feeding and breathing tubes.

President Bush was being kept informed of Sharon's condition by his staff, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Saturday.

"Prime Minister Sharon remains in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time," McClellan said.

Dr. R. Sean Morrison, a professor of geriatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, said "long-term comatose patients typically die of complications like this," referring to necrosis.

Morrison said Sharon's prognosis was grave even before the latest complication, and his chances for survival are now "extremely small, almost zero."

In recent months, the obese Sharon had repeatedly brushed aside questions about his health, but his condition became an issue after he suffered a mild stroke Dec. 18.

At the time, Sharon was at the height of his popularity, following last summer's successful pullout from the Gaza Strip and his break with the hard-line Likud Party.

Voters widely expected Sharon to draw Israel's final borders, with or without the Palestinians, if elected for a third term. Polls suggested Kadima would become by far the largest party in parliament.

Sharon, a war hero, had for years opposed concessions to the Palestinians. He came to accept the idea of giving land to the Palestinians and allowing them to form a state only during his most recent term as prime minister, which began in 2003.

After his mild stroke, aides played down his health problems. Doctors treated him with anti-clotting agents and scheduled a minor heart procedure for Jan. 5 to close a hole believed to have contributed to that first stroke.

Hours before the scheduled procedure, Sharon suffered a massive stroke, including heavy bleeding in the brain, and slipped into a coma.

After being admitted to Hadassah on Jan. 4, Sharon underwent three back-to-back brain surgeries. These were followed by three smaller procedures, including insertions of feeding and breathing tubes — a sign that doctors were preparing for a long-term coma.