Doctors taking care of Pope Francis considered ending their treatment at one point as there “was a risk that he would not make it,” a report said.
Gemelli Hospital medical director Dr. Sergio Alfieri recounted the scenes on Feb. 28 when the 88-year-old suffered a coughing fit and inhaled vomit, prompting staff to have to aspirate with a bronchoscope to clear their airways and later put on a non-invasive mechanical ventilation mask to help him breathe.
“For the first time I saw tears in the eyes of some of the people around him. People who, I understood during this period of hospitalization, sincerely love him, like a father. We were all aware that the situation had worsened further and there was a risk that he would not make it,” Alfieri told the Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview published Tuesday.
“We had to choose whether to stop and let him go or force it and try with all the drugs and therapies possible, running the very high risk of damaging other organs. And in the end we took this path,” he reportedly added.
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The Vatican did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
Alfieri said to the newspaper that Francis “delegated every type of healthcare decision to Massimiliano Strappetti, his personal healthcare assistant who knows the Pope’s wishes perfectly.”
“Try everything, we won’t give up,” Alfieri recalled Strappetti telling staff at the hospital. “That’s what we all thought too. And no one gave up”.
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“Even when [Francis’] condition worsened he was fully conscious. That evening was terrible, he knew, like us, that he might not survive the night,” Alfieri also told Corriere della Sera. “We saw the man who was suffering. But from day one he asked us to tell him the truth and he wanted us to tell the truth about his condition.”
Francis eventually was discharged from the hospital in Rome on Sunday.
A papal spokesman said Tuesday that Francis is very happy to be back home and his breathing and movement therapy is ongoing.
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