AUSTRIA: AUSTRIAN PRESIDENT THOMAS KLESTIL IN A CRITICAL CONDITION FOLLOWING HEART FAILURE
Record ID:
443010
AUSTRIA: AUSTRIAN PRESIDENT THOMAS KLESTIL IN A CRITICAL CONDITION FOLLOWING HEART FAILURE
- Title: AUSTRIA: AUSTRIAN PRESIDENT THOMAS KLESTIL IN A CRITICAL CONDITION FOLLOWING HEART FAILURE
- Date: 5th July 2004
- Summary: (W5) VIENNA, AUSTRIA (FILE - 1999) (REUTERS) 1. AUSTRIAN PRESIDENT, THOMAS KLESTIL (RIGHT) WALKING WITH FORMER AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR, VIKTOR KLIMA, WHO RESIGNED FROM HIS POST IN 2000 0.05 2. SCU: KLESTIL TALKING TO CAMERAS 0.24 (W5) VIENNA, AUSTRIA (JULY 5, 2004) (REUTERS) 3. REPORTERS STANDING AT THE END OF A LONG TABLE WHERE DR. REINHARD KREPLER, DIRECTOR OF VIENNA'S GENERAL HOSPITAL, IS SITTING 0.32 4. (SOUNDBITE) (German) DR. REINHARD KREPLER, DIRECTOR OF VIENNA'S GENERAL HOSPITAL TALKING ABOUT KLESTIL'S HEALTH SAYING: "We will be able to check the condition of his organs, lungs and heart once he wakes up." 0.43 5. REPORTERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS IN FRONT OF KREPLER 0.48 6. CAMERA OPERATOR FILMING KREPLER 0.53 7. (SOUNDBITE) (German) KREPLER SAYING: "His condition looked much worse at the beginning than it does now. We are hopeful but we are also worried about his condition right now." 1.06 8. WS: REPORTERS AROUND TABLE 1.10 9. (SOUNDBITE) (German) KREPLER SAYING: "The threat to his life is still acute but that goes for all our patients in intensive care. The intensive care department is has all the equipment needed to stabilise the patient's condition. Of course, its a serious condition but I tried to get all the information before this news conference and at the moment, they can't tell me anything about the situation." 2.01 10. REPORTERS AT THE END OF THE NEWS CONFERENCE, PACKING UP AND TALKING TO KREPLER AT THE END OF THE NEWS CONFERENCE 2.05 (W4) SALZBURG, AUSTRIA (FILE - MAY 25, 2003) (REUTERS) 11. EXTERIOR OF SUMMIT VENUE 2.10 12. WS: AUSTRIAN PRESIDENT THOMAS KLESTIL AT SUMMIT TABLE WITH PRESIDENT OF 17 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES 2.15 13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTRIAN PRESIDENT THOMAS KLESTIL TALKING ABOUT PROBLEMS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE EUROPEAN UNION IN THE WAKE OF THE U.S. WAR ON IRAQ WHICH LED TO THE TOPPLING OF SADDAM HUSSEIN FROM HIS POST AS IRAQI PRESIDENT SAYING: "For Europeans like me, who during a lifetime have witnessed the unshakeable friendship between Europe and the United States, the present developments are of greatest concern. Europe and the United States share the same principles and values and freedom, democracy and respect for human rights. We are confronted with the same threats by international terrorism, crime, proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction. In one word we are sitting in the same boat. Our co-operation in therefore indispensable." 2.53 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 20th July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VIENNA, AUSTRIA AND FILE
- Country: Austria
- Reuters ID: LVACZWIF4198ZGLJXP04J12W0EG4
- Story Text: Doctors say Austrian president in a critical
condition following heart failure.
Austrian President Thomas Klestil was in a critical
condition on Monday (July 5) after being revived following
heart failure..
Dr. Reinhard Krepler, director of Vienna's General
Hospital, told reporters in Vienna that doctors needed to
wait for the President to wake up before checking on his
vital organs.
But for the moment Klestil, who is on life support, was
in an artificially induced coma to enable doctors to work
on his heart and an underlying lung condition.
"We will be able to check the condition of his organs,
lungs and heart once he wakes up," Krepler said.
Krepler said the president was in critical condition
and the physician treating Klestil for his lung illness,
Dr. Wolfgang Graninger, was not optimistic saying his
prognosis was "very bad".
His current break down is the result of the president's
underlying lung illness.
"His condition looked much worse at the beginning than
it does now. We are hopeful but we are also worried about
his condition right now," Krepler said.
He also said that Klestil was currently in intensive
care but that it was hard to provide a definitive
description of his health.
"The threat to his life is still acute but that goes
for all our patients in intensive care. The intensive care
department is has all the equipment needed to stabilise the
patient's condition. Of course, its a serious condition but
I tried to get all the information before this news
conference and at the moment, they can't tell me anything
about the situation," he said.
The 71-year-old Klestil had been due to step down as
president later this week.
The Austrian rescue agency OeAMTC said earlier that
Klestil's heart had failed at his Vienna home, and after
resuscitation he was flown by emergency helicopter to a
hospital in the capital.
Klestil was to end his second six-year term on
Thursday, handing over the presidency to Social Democrat
Heinz Fischer, who was elected in April.
A conservative like Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel,
Klestil was a critic of Schuessel's decision to forge a
coalition with the far-right Freedom Party of Joerg Haider
in 2000 -- a decision which resulted in eight months of
international diplomatic sanctions against Austria.
But Klestil in the end did not use his constitutional
powers to dismiss the government. Instead, he swore in the
conservative and far-right ministers with a memorable
stern, unhappy expression on his face in February 2000.
The head of state has mostly representative functions,
but his voice counts on important issues and he can
influence the formation of a government.
The president theoretically has wide-ranging powers
under the constitution to pick the chancellor, who runs the
day-to-day affairs of government, and to dismiss a
government he does not like.
But no Austrian president has ever fired a government,
and traditionally the chancellor is in effect named by the
largest party after parliament elections.
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