Pope Francis resting after alarming setback in recovery from double pneumonia
Pope Francis was resting Saturday after an alarming setback in his two-week recovery from double pneumonia: Doctors had to put him on noninvasive mechanical ventilation following a coughing fit in which he inhaled vomit that needed to then be extracted.Doctors said it would take a day or two to evaluate how and if the episode impacted Francis’ overall clinical condition.His prognosis remained guarded, meaning he wasn’t out of danger.In its brief morning update Saturday, the Vatican said: “The night has passed quietly, the pope is resting.”In the late Friday update, the Vatican said the 88-year-old suffered an “isolated crisis of bronchial spasm,” a coughing fit in which Francis inhaled vomit, that resulted in a “sudden worsening of the respiratory picture.”Doctors aspirated the vomit and placed Francis on non-invasive mechanical ventilation.The pope remained conscious and alert at all times and cooperated with the maneuvers to help him recover.He responded well, with a good level of oxygen exchange and was continuing to wear a mask to receive supplemental oxygen, the Vatican said.The episode, which occurred in the early afternoon, marked a setback in what had been two successive days of increasingly upbeat reports from doctors treating Francis at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb.
14.The pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has lung disease and was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened and turned into pneumonia in both lungs.The Vatican said the episode was different to the prolonged respiratory crisis on Feb.22, in that it was an isolated spasm that resulted in Francis aspirating the vomit that he produced.Dr.
John Coleman, a pulmonary critical care doctor at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, said the episode as relayed by the Vatican was alarming and underscored Francis’ fragility and that his condition “can turn very quickly.”“I think this is extremely concerning, given the fact that the pope has been in the ...