South Africa: Mandela, sad end

The doctors of former President exclude unplug appliances that keep alive as long as there is no "real organ failure."

Doctors at the former South African president Nelson Mandela have excluded unplug appliances that keep alive as long as there is no "real organ failure" vital, reported a family friend Friday . "I was told that the issue of the disconnect was raised," said Denis Goldberg, a fellow 80-year-old anti-apartheid struggle, who visited his friend Monday at the invitation of the wife Mandela, Graça Machel.

But "the doctors said they would consider this option only if clearly organ failure. Way was not produced, they were willing to wait quietly and stabilize until recovery" at he added. According to a court document revealed Thursday, family, advised by doctors, had planned to "disconnect" Nelson Mandela last week, when the great man was "in a vegetative state."

The Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, aged 94, was admitted to Pretoria for four weeks to a serious lung infection. His condition is described for over a week as "critical but stable" by the South African authorities. He was not in a vegetative state Thursday, said the presidency after the publication of the legal document.

(Source le Point.fr)