Doctor reveals just how close Pope Francis came to dying
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Pope Francis' doctors considered ending treatment at one point so that the 88-year-old pontiff could die peacefully.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis came so close to death at one point during his fight in hospital against pneumonia, that his doctors considered ending treatment so that the 88-year-old pontiff could die peacefully, the head of the Pope’s medical team said on March 25.
After a breathing crisis on Feb 28 that involved Francis nearly choking on his vomit, “there was a real risk he might not make it”, said Dr Sergio Alfieri, a physician at Rome’s Gemelli hospital.
“We had to choose if we would stop there and let him go, or to go forward and push it with all the drugs and therapies possible, running the highest risk of damaging his other organs,” Dr Alfieri told Italy’s daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published on March 25.
“In the end, we took this path,” he said.
The Pope was treated at Gemelli hospital for 38 days in the most serious health crisis of his 12-year papacy.
He was admitted on Feb 14 for a bout of bronchitis that developed into double pneumonia, an especially serious condition for the pontiff, who had pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.
The Vatican provided an unusual amount of detail in its daily updates on the Pope’s condition during his stay in hospital, which included four “respiratory crises” involving serious coughing fits caused by constrictions in his airways, akin to asthma attacks.
Dr Alfieri had previously said that two of the crises were critical, putting Pope Francis “in danger of his life”. In the new interview, the doctor said it was the Francis’ personal nurse who, after the vomiting episode, instructed the medical team to keep going with treatment.
“Try everything; don’t give up,” came the message from Ms Massimiliano Strappetti, the Pope’s nurse, as recounted by Dr Alfieri.
“For days, we were risking damage to his kidneys and bone marrow, but we went ahead, and his body responded to the drugs and his lung infection lessened,” said Dr Alfieri.
Pope Francis has been prescribed a further two-month period of rest since leaving hospital to fully heal. It has not been made clear how much he will be seen in public in coming weeks.
Recounting the Pope’s first public appearance since entering hospital, when he appeared on a hospital balcony to greet well-wishers on March 23, Dr Alfieri said that was the moment of the pontiff’s treatment that struck him the most.
“I saw him leave the room on the 10th floor of the Gemelli dressed in white,” said the doctor. “It was the emotion of seeing the man become again the Pope.” REUTERS
