Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will soon be taken off respirators despite no sign he will emerge from his coma, a senior aide said today.
Mr Sharon (77) suffered a massive stroke on January 4th in a health crisis that cast a shadow on Middle East peacemaking prospects and an Israeli general election on March 28th.
Ariel Sharon
Doctors initially used sedatives to induce a coma after performing multiple brain surgeries on Mr Sharon immediately after the stroke.
The prime minister was taken off all sedatives last Saturday but remains incapacitated, raising concern he suffered more severe brain damage.
"They're going to remove all the respiratory systems," said Sharon aide Raanan Gissin. "He's going to be able to breathe alone at the end of the weekend."
Mr Sharon has been breathing independently, but the respirator was used as a back-up, Mr Gissin said.
Mr Sharon underwent a tracheotomy earlier this week that created an incision in his windpipe to help wean him off respiratory machines.
Relatives said he briefly opened his eyes on Monday, but medical experts noted that such eyelid movements were common among comatose patients and could not be viewed as a reawakening without additional signs of communication.
Mr Sharon is not expected to return to office and his deputy, Ehud Olmert, was named interim prime minister. Mr Olmert is predicted to lead Mr Sharon's newly formed Kadima party at the ballot, and opinion polls put him ahead of rivals from the right-wing Likud and centre-left Labour parties.
A spokeswoman at Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital said the prime minister remained in critical but stable condition.