I normally dont root for people to tip over, but this cocksucker is responsible for so much death & agony that I'm not ashamed to say I want him 6 feet deep.
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Pope John Paul, 84, Is Hospitalized After Days of Illness, Vatican Says
By IAN FISHER
Published: February 2, 2005
OME, Wednesday, Feb. 2 - Pope John Paul II, suffering from fever and influenza for several days, was admitted Tuesday night to a hospital here because of difficulty breathing, a Vatican spokesman said.
The pope was admitted to the Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital at 10:50 p.m., the spokesman said, suffering from what a Vatican statement said included tracheitis, an inflammation of the windpipe, and spasms of the larynx, or voice box.
"He had problems breathing," said the spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini.
The ANSA news agency, quoting unidentified Vatican officials, reported that the pope was admitted as "a precaution" and that his overall condition was not in danger, since an earlier fever had subsided. Father Benedettini said the pope was sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, but added, "It's not very, very serious."
The pope was not admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit, his chief spokesman, Joaquín Navarro-Valls, told The Associated Press.
In most American hospitals, doctors would quickly insert a breathing tube in a patient suffering from laryngeal spasms and admit the patient to an intensive care unit. X-rays would be taken with a portable machine.
Taken at face value, the complications the pope suffered are "ominous and unusual," said Dr. William Schaffner, an American expert in influenza at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and is 84, is at high risk for a secondary bacterial pneumonia as a complication of influenza, and "almost everyone would treat such a patient with combinations of intravenous antibiotics" and an anti-influenza drug like Tamiflu, Dr. Schaffner said.
Pope John Paul has had influenza since Sunday, when he made his usual noontime appearance in St. Peter's Square, Father Benedettini said. Earlier on Tuesday, the Vatican announced that the pope's public appointments would be canceled for the next few days because of his illness. The last time sickness canceled a public appearance was in 2003 when the pope was ill with a stomach ailment.
For the last several years, the health of the once vigorous pope, elected as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in 1978, has declined sharply. In public appearances, assistants often read his sermons, and he is largely confined to a chair, needing help to kneel in prayer. But, in appearances and appointments in which he seems to struggle against his physical limitations, he has kept up a busy schedule. Though his voice was weak and at times quavering, he seemed relatively sturdy throughout the services and speeches of the holiday season.
The admission to the hospital appears to be his first since 1996, when he had his appendix removed. The Gemelli Polyclinic is the hospital where he was taken after an assassination attempt in 1981 and where he has had several operations.
Outside the hospital, television cameras staked out the entrances, and there were more police officers than usual but no sense of urgency.
Lawrence K. Altman contributed reporting from New York for this article.
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Pope John Paul, 84, Is Hospitalized After Days of Illness, Vatican Says
By IAN FISHER
Published: February 2, 2005
OME, Wednesday, Feb. 2 - Pope John Paul II, suffering from fever and influenza for several days, was admitted Tuesday night to a hospital here because of difficulty breathing, a Vatican spokesman said.
The pope was admitted to the Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital at 10:50 p.m., the spokesman said, suffering from what a Vatican statement said included tracheitis, an inflammation of the windpipe, and spasms of the larynx, or voice box.
"He had problems breathing," said the spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini.
The ANSA news agency, quoting unidentified Vatican officials, reported that the pope was admitted as "a precaution" and that his overall condition was not in danger, since an earlier fever had subsided. Father Benedettini said the pope was sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, but added, "It's not very, very serious."
The pope was not admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit, his chief spokesman, Joaquín Navarro-Valls, told The Associated Press.
In most American hospitals, doctors would quickly insert a breathing tube in a patient suffering from laryngeal spasms and admit the patient to an intensive care unit. X-rays would be taken with a portable machine.
Taken at face value, the complications the pope suffered are "ominous and unusual," said Dr. William Schaffner, an American expert in influenza at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and is 84, is at high risk for a secondary bacterial pneumonia as a complication of influenza, and "almost everyone would treat such a patient with combinations of intravenous antibiotics" and an anti-influenza drug like Tamiflu, Dr. Schaffner said.
Pope John Paul has had influenza since Sunday, when he made his usual noontime appearance in St. Peter's Square, Father Benedettini said. Earlier on Tuesday, the Vatican announced that the pope's public appointments would be canceled for the next few days because of his illness. The last time sickness canceled a public appearance was in 2003 when the pope was ill with a stomach ailment.
For the last several years, the health of the once vigorous pope, elected as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in 1978, has declined sharply. In public appearances, assistants often read his sermons, and he is largely confined to a chair, needing help to kneel in prayer. But, in appearances and appointments in which he seems to struggle against his physical limitations, he has kept up a busy schedule. Though his voice was weak and at times quavering, he seemed relatively sturdy throughout the services and speeches of the holiday season.
The admission to the hospital appears to be his first since 1996, when he had his appendix removed. The Gemelli Polyclinic is the hospital where he was taken after an assassination attempt in 1981 and where he has had several operations.
Outside the hospital, television cameras staked out the entrances, and there were more police officers than usual but no sense of urgency.
Lawrence K. Altman contributed reporting from New York for this article.
