Sharon opens eyes after hearing grandson's voice
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today briefly opened his eyes in response to a recording of his grandson’s voice, family members told doctors, though hospital officials warned there were no signs that the comatose Israeli leader was any closer to regaining consciousness.
With the prime minister still incapacitated 11 days after a massive stroke, today’s media excitement over the reported eye movements showed how even the slightest change in his condition is capturing the nation’s attention.
Sharon has been lying unconscious in Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital since his stroke on January 4.
Although doctors say his condition remains “critical but stable”, outside stroke experts have said his failure to regain consciousness in recent days bodes poorly for Sharon.
The hospital has not confirmed those concerns.
Today’s reports seemed to spark hopes that Sharon, perhaps the country’s ultimate political survivor, was proving the experts wrong again.
After scaling back coverage of Sharon’s health in recent days, TV newscasts and radio programming eagerly reported the latest developments.
Israel TV said the prime minister opened his eyes as his son, Gilad, sat at his bedside playing a tape recording of Sharon’s grandson.
A Sharon aide in touch with the family said the report was accurate.
The Yediot Ahronot newspaper reported on its website that Sharon opened his eyes twice, becoming teary at the sound of his grandson’s voice. It said Sharon closed his eyes before doctors reached his room.
The heavy media interest prompted the hospital to issue a statement playing down the reports. It said Sharon’s relatives reported “impression of eyelid movement whose significance is unclear”.
Outside medical experts warned against reading too much into the reported eye movements.
“I would take nothing from it,” said Dr Maurizio Miglietta, a coma expert at New York University’s School of Medicine, especially because there were no other signs of progress reported later in the day.
“It can be anything from him waking up to having a seizure, or it could be involuntary,” he said. The next thing to look for would be “purposeful movements”, such as responding to voices, he added.
Dr Anthony Rudd, a stroke specialist at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, said coma patients often involuntarily flutter their eyelids or even open their eyes momentarily.
“Often families misinterpret reflex twitching for voluntary movement,” he said.
Sharon, 77, suffered the stroke on January 4 and underwent three brain operations to stop brain haemorrhaging.
Medical officials said last week that Sharon showed some movement on both sides of his body in response to pain stimuli, but he has shown no signs of improvement since then.
Doctors have given little insight into their prognosis.
Yesterday, Sharon underwent a tracheotomy to help wean him off a respirator that has been helping him breathe since the stroke.
He also has been taken off sedatives.
Sharon’s Kadima Party enjoyed a strong lead in opinion polls at the time of the stroke, and analysts warned the party might disintegrate without its founder and leader. But under acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Sharon’s top deputy, Kadima has strengthened its lead.
With Sharon unlikely to return, Kadima on Monday chose Olmert to stand in as party leader in the March 28 election.
The decision put Olmert in a strong position to be Israel’s next prime minister.
