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Pope may have to return to hospital
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-30 09:17

Pope John Paul II may have to return to the hospital to have a feeding tube inserted because he is having difficulty swallowing, an Italian news agency reported Tuesday.

The APcom news agency said no decision had been taken and the feeding tube was one option being considered to help the 84-year-old pope get better nutrition and regain his strength.

Calls to the Vatican spokesman went unanswered late Tuesday.

Pope John Paul II touches his head as he appears from his studio's window overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican to deliver the Easter Sunday blessing, in this March 27, 2005 file photo. As Pope John Paul II struggles with his latest health crisis, a new image of his papacy is emerging, one based on gestures, images and video appearances. [AP/file]

Citing an unidentified source, the agency said the pope's doctors were considering the procedure, which involves inserting a feeding tube through the throat and into the stomach. The tube is drawn through the throat then extended from inside the stomach to outside the body through a small incision in the abdomen. Liquid formula is fed through the tube into the stomach, and the tube does not remain in the throat.

The technique — percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, or PEG — was developed in 1979 and is used more than 250,000 times a year in the United States alone. If performed, the pope would be receiving nutrition the same way Terri Schiavo did before her feeding tube was removed. Schiavo, a severely brain damaged woman, is at the center of a legal battle in the United States.

The Vatican last week strongly condemned a decision by a U.S. judge not to order the reinsertion of Schiavo's feeding tube after it was removed on orders from another judge. The Vatican said the decision was akin to capital punishment for someone who had committed no crime. Schiavo's tube was removed March 18.

John Paul has been having trouble swallowing since a tracheotomy tube was inserted in his throat Feb. 24 to help him breathe. He was admitted to the hospital twice in February because of breathing crises.

The pontiff was unable to preside at Holy Week events because of his ailments. On Sunday, he tried but failed to speak to tens of thousands of people gathered for Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square.

Earlier Tuesday, the Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that the pope's doctors were considering a new hospitalization next week both to perform tests on the breathing tube and to adjust his diet because of problems swallowing.

There was no comment from the Vatican. Nicola Cerbino, a spokesman at Polyclinic Gemelli hospital where John Paul was rushed twice last month, called it media speculation.

Another newspaper, La Repubblica, quoted the pope's Vatican physician, Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, as saying doctors are "reasonably calm" about the pope's condition.

John Paul last spoke to the public on March 13, shortly before he was discharged from the hospital for a second time in a month. In addition to the breathing tube, John Paul suffers from Parkinson's disease, which also makes it difficult for him to talk.

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