SHARON'S BRAIN HEMORRAGE CAUSED BY MEDICATION

HAARETZ:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon received anticoagulant drugs despite suffering from a disease of the blood vessels in the brain which, if diagnosed, would almost certainly have prevented doctors from prescribing these drugs - which are known to increase the risk of strokes and brain hemorrhage. One doctor close to the situation told Haaretz Monday that the disease was diagnosed by doctors treating Sharon at Hadassah University Hospital during his current hospitalization.

The disease, cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) could have greatly increased the risk of a brain hemorrhage, following the administration of the medication that he received after his first stroke Dec. 19, Haaretz has learned.

The diagnosis ocurred after examining CT scans Sharon has undergone, according to testimony presented Monday to Haaretz by a medical source involved in the treatment of the prime minister.

If his CAA had been diagnosed BEFORE he was prescribed the medication to prevent blood clots from forming in his heart, then he would be FINE today. They could have SIMPLY done this by examining CT scans. And then, they might have chosen to IMMEDIATELY give him the stent to close the small hole in his heart, instead of WAITING a month for the operation and giving him thinners prophylactically - to safeguard him for that month. WHAT A FREAKIN' SHAME.

UPDATE/HAARETZ:

Doctors at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, discovered that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered from a vascular disease when he was hospitalized with his first stroke on December 18. Administering blood thinners to someone suffering from this disease greatly increases the risk of cerebral hemorrhaging. Despite their knowledge, Hadassah doctors decided to put Sharon on blood-thinning medication following the stroke. ...

Senior doctors told Haaretz that the revelation that Hadassah knew about Sharon's CAA raises more questions over the treatment he received. A senior doctor at Hadassah even described the decision to put Sharon on blood thinners, despite the knowledge that he had CAA, as a "major screw-up."

Another senior doctor, who serves as a department head at one of Israel's largest hospitals, said that the Health Ministry ought to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate Sharon's treatment. Based on newspaper reports and Hadassah's own statements, the doctor said, Sharon appears to have suffered from too much treatment - the blood thinners - and too little medical supervision.

IMHO: The doctors made a well-intentioned MISTAKE - one that may be very common, even a SOP.