[IMRA: It is highly doubtful that the decision to conceal PM Sharon's
condition was made by the doctors rather than ultimately by people who are
still in key positions in the government. If these people felt it was proper
to lie to the public about Sharon's health out of electoral considerations,
one can only wonder what else they may be concealing in order to assure a
Kadima victory.]

After first stroke PM's doctors concealed his condition
By Ran Reznick and Tamara Traubman, Haaretz Correspondents 24 January 2006
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/673925.html

The general medical condition of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was more
critical than his doctors and advisers have reported since his first stroke
on December 18, 2005. In addition to the heart problem they disclosed,
Sharon was suffering from cardiac and cerebral diseases that the doctors
kept from the public.

Sharon remains in critical but stable condition following the major stroke
and massive cerebral hemorrhaging he suffered on January 4.

Following Sharon's hospitalization for the minor stroke, the doctors of the
prime minister told the public he had a hole in the septa between the heart
chambers, that had been present since his childhood.

However, Haaretz's inquiry shows that Sharon also suffered from more
serious, life-threatening heart problems, including a large aneurysm in the
septum. This is known to be a source of cerebral blood embolisms, and indeed
led to the blood clot that caused Sharon's first stroke, senior doctors at
Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem believe.

However, Sharon also suffered from other heart diseases. These include a
shunt that causes blood to flow spontaneously through the hole in the septum
from right to left - the wrong direction - which is dangerous. Sharon also
had other conditions in the cardiac septum that created further risks of
blood clots that could wind up in the brain.

Hadassah Hospital spokeswoman Yael Bossem-Levy dismissed the Haaretz report
as containing nothing new. "Everything that appears in the item was
discussed at the news conference" where the hole in the septum was
disclosed, she said.

Senior doctors said this usually requires early treatment with
blood-thinners and cardiac catheterization, as the cardiologists and
neurologists at Hadassah had recommended.

But they said it also required closer surveillance, because the blood
thinner Sharon had received could have been extremely dangerous, due to the
additional disease discovered, cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), which is
liable to make cerebral hemorrhaging extremely hard to treat - as was the
case.

The CAA diagnosis, which Haaretz revealed some two weeks ago, was also
concealed from the public. Click here to read more about the PM's CAA
diagnosis.

Medical sources said that Sharon's doctors had an ethical obligation to tell
the prime minister and his family, as well as his confidants and advisers,
of the risks involved in giving him the blood thinners.

They said the doctors should also have reported the early signs of
hemorrhaging and warned that an emergency evacuation to Hadassah might be
necessary.

Also, the catheterization should have been held earlier and Sharon should
have had to stay close to Hadassah, rather than go home to Sycamore Ranch -
as he had done, they said.

"Had the catheterization been performed earlier, Sharon would very likely
not have suffered the second cranial hemorrhage," a source said. "If Sharon
had arrived even half an hour earlier at Hadassah he would have been saved,
or at least the brain damage would have been a lot less significant."

Senior doctors said the dangerous heart disease Sharon had raises several
other questions about the partial and vague information that his doctors
gave the media and the public under the guise of "full disclosure."

A senior source in Sharon's bureau told Haaretz yesterday that confidants
and advisers were not told of the severity of the prime minister's
illnesses, nor was the family told of the urgent need for catheterization.

Haaretz has learned that Sharon's doctors at Hadassah knew of the severe
cardiac and cerebral diseases by the day after his first stroke.

Another senior doctor said the doctors were stuck between a rock and a hard
place. The cardiac disease created the danger of an embolism, but the
medicine to prevent this increased chances of cerebral hemorrhaging.

One of Israel's leading cardiologists said yesterday that the latest
discoveries about the medical condition of Sharon only strengthen the
suspicion that his treatment, especially after his first stroke, was
affected by nonmedical considerations.

He was referring to Sharon's hasty resumption of his work routine, designed
to create the impression of "business as usual" and make the prime minister
appear to be healthy.

It was wrong of Sharon to resume his work and to stay at Sycamore Ranch, far
from Hadassah, he said.

"Sharon should have been resting, close to the hospital where the doctors
treated him and knew his medical history. He should have been in a
protected, comfortable environment. That's exactly the `medical bulletproof
vest' he should have been given," the cardiologist said.

A senior internal medicine expert at the Maccabi health maintenance
organization said the latest reports of Sharon's condition "create a fuller,
more realistic picture of a prime minister who is an elderly 78, who is not
healthy and is considerably overweight, and has suffered a stroke, a cardiac
aneurysm and a hole in his heart that created risks of another cerebral
embolism. In addition, the CAA increased the risk of cerebral bleeding.

"In contrast, the briefings given by Sharon's doctors gave the public the
impression that Sharon was not suffering from significant risk factors or
dangerous diseases," the expert said