yudansha
TheGreatOne
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Austrian President Thomas Klestil, whose term ends this week, was in critical condition Monday after being revived at home after heart failure and flown by helicopter to a Vienna hospital.
Security guards at Klestil's suburban Vienna home used a defibrillator to revive the 71-year-old president.
Reinhard Krepler, director of Vienna's General Hospital, told reporters that Klestil remained in critical condition after being moved from the emergency room to an intensive care unit where he was the only patient. He said doctors slightly reduced Klestil's body temperature and sedated him to lessen the burden on his heart and lungs.
Klestil's life remained in danger and he would need to spend at least 14 days sedated, Krepler said.
"We are very worried, but we have hope," he said.
Presidential spokesman Meinhard Rauchensteiner earlier told The Associated Press: "He is being treated at the hospital and it is serious."
Klestil's second and last six-year term ends Thursday, when Heinz Fischer takes over as president. Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel was temporarily taking over Klestil's presidential duties.
Klestil suffered from a severe case of pneumonia in 1996, and his lung problems turned serious again in recent days.
Klestil, a career diplomat who earlier served as Austria's ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations, was widely credited with helping restore Austria's credibility after a controversy over the wartime service with the German army of his predecessor, Kurt Waldheim.
While the post is mostly ceremonial, the Austrian president is commander in chief of the country's military, and the constitution gives the president the power to reject nominations for cabinet ministers or even to remove them from office - something that has rarely been done.
SUSANNA LOOF; © The Canadian Press, 2004
Security guards at Klestil's suburban Vienna home used a defibrillator to revive the 71-year-old president.
Reinhard Krepler, director of Vienna's General Hospital, told reporters that Klestil remained in critical condition after being moved from the emergency room to an intensive care unit where he was the only patient. He said doctors slightly reduced Klestil's body temperature and sedated him to lessen the burden on his heart and lungs.
Klestil's life remained in danger and he would need to spend at least 14 days sedated, Krepler said.
"We are very worried, but we have hope," he said.
Presidential spokesman Meinhard Rauchensteiner earlier told The Associated Press: "He is being treated at the hospital and it is serious."
Klestil's second and last six-year term ends Thursday, when Heinz Fischer takes over as president. Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel was temporarily taking over Klestil's presidential duties.
Klestil suffered from a severe case of pneumonia in 1996, and his lung problems turned serious again in recent days.
Klestil, a career diplomat who earlier served as Austria's ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations, was widely credited with helping restore Austria's credibility after a controversy over the wartime service with the German army of his predecessor, Kurt Waldheim.
While the post is mostly ceremonial, the Austrian president is commander in chief of the country's military, and the constitution gives the president the power to reject nominations for cabinet ministers or even to remove them from office - something that has rarely been done.
SUSANNA LOOF; © The Canadian Press, 2004
I like him; aways did. Thanks again, yudansha.