Doctors Did Not Conduct Second Test on Arafat Is Brain Dead
'Official censorship' is continuing about the state of health of the
Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat, who was taken under treatment in the
Percy Military Hospital in Paris last week. News claiming that
Arafat opened his eyes and that 'his condition is getting better' was
officially denied by the hospital yesterday (November 6), saying there
was no change in Arafat's condition. Commenting on the conflicting
news, one of Arafat's aides Nabil Abu Rudeyna explained that Arafat's
condition was still critical. The French daily Liberation, which
announced that Arafat is brain dead, claimed the French doctors had put
off the second necessary test so they were not obliged to announce
'officially' that Arafat is brain dead. To understand whether brain death occurred, an electro
encephalogram (EEG), which measures cerebral function needs to be
conducted two times with a four hour interval. For a brain death to be
declaredin EGG, a straight line should come up in both of the
measurements, which would indicate that blood circulation in the brain
had stopped. Reporting that the first test yielded a negative result on
Thursday (November 4), the French daily claims that the doctors did not
want to conduct the second EEG test so they could postpone the
announcement of Arafat's death. After hospital officials reported to
the AFP that Arafat was brain dead, a new statement came from the
hospital explaining there was no change in Arafat's condition. Saying that doctors thought Arafat's condition might change,
Rudeyna indicated that 'the doctors could not still diagnose Arafat's
disease'. Rudeyna did not comment on the news published by the web-site
of Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth claiming 'Arafat opened his eyes and
communicated with his doctors'. Making a statement in front of the
hospital on Friday November 5, Percy Hospital Spokesperson Dr.
Christian Estripeau announced that there was no change in Arafat's
condition. In a statement to AFP on Thursday, an official from the
hospital explained that Arafat was already brain dead and there was no
chance of his recovery. In yesterday's statement, the hospital
announced that there was no change in Arafat's condition. News claiming that Arafat's blood was taken to a third country
to be examined was not confirmed and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmet
Quray indicated that Arafat might have been poisoned. Arafat's advisor,
Mohamed Rasit said there was no need to bring Arafat to Palestinian
territories to let him die physically. He said, 'Arafat can only leave
hospital walking or dead. No other alternatives are possible'.
11.07.2004
Ali Ihsan Aydin
Paris |
