Sharon to be moved to Sheba hospital
Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 28, 2006
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482055024&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[IMRA: "Sharon is given virtually no chance of regaining consciousness" -
but Attorney General Mazuz refused to act on this fact before the elections.
It would have meant the very real possiblity that Binyamin Netanyahu, as
head of the Likud party, would have run in the elections as prime minister
and Mr. Olmert and his Kadima party would run as members of the opposition.
Olmert would not have enjoyed the daily stream of PM photo-ops and he would
have had to deal with a group bickering "Volvo-less" (not ministers) Kadima
party colleagues.]

Major traffic disruptions are expected on roads between Jerusalem and Tel
Hashomer Sunday morning as former prime minister Ariel Sharon is moved from
Hadassah-University Hospital, Ein Kerem, where he has been hospitalized
since January 4, to Sheba Medical Center's department for respiratory care
and rehabilitation.

The authorities did not say exactly when and how Sharon, who is still
connected to a respirator, will be moved, but even though both hospitals
have helipads, he will apparently not be moved by helicopter or transferred
in the middle of the night, when there is little traffic.

A press conference will be held Sunday morning at Sheba, whose
director-general Ze'ev Rothstein will speak to reporters about Sharon's
treatment. The main aim of the 18-bed department, headed by Dr. Arie
Wollner, is to wean the comatose Sharon off his respirator.

Sharon is given virtually no chance of regaining consciousness. His sons
Gilad, who spends 12 hours a day with him, and Omri will not be present at
the press conference.

Before the rumors of the transfer were confirmed, Wollner was permitted to
describe the "unique facilities" that it offers. "We are a national center,
and we are always full," he said. "It is a hospital within a hospital, with
interdisciplinary care by specialists in intensive care, internal medicine,
lung disease and other fields, plus physiotherapists and other
professionals. Our patients are stable and no longer under the imminent
threat of death, but they still need life support measures, including
weaning from ventilation."