Outside the Beltway

Pope Has Tracheotomy

· Thursday, February 24, 2005 · No comments

ABC News: Reports: Pope Taken to Operating Room (Reuters)

Pope John Paul has been taken to an operating room in Rome’s Gemelli hospital and was expected to have surgery later Thursday to help him breathe more easily, Italian media said, quoting unnamed sources. Sky Italia television said the surgeons would perform a tracheotomy at 8:30 p.m., cutting a small opening into the Pontiff’s neck and the windpipe to allow air to flow directly into the lungs. Hospital and Vatican officials were not immediately available to comment on the reports.

CNN is covering the story in full-time mode.

Update (1541): CNN passes word from Italian television that the operation is completed, presumably successfully.

FILED UNDER: Health, Religion, , , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College and a nonresident senior fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm vet. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Support OTB

Become a Patron