Hope lives on: Govt rebuts reports of Nelson Mandela8217;s vegetative state

Govt has asserted that his breathing is machine-assisted but he is not permanently dormant.

Nelson Mandela is in critical but stable condition,the South African government said Friday,while a close friend said the anti-apartheid leader was conscious and responsive earlier this week. The government reiterated that Mandela is not in a vegetative state,contrary to recent court documents. A court paper filed June 27 concerning Mandela family graves said affidavits would be provided from his physicians to show that Mandela 8221;is in a permanent vegetative state.8221; A later filing dropped that phrase. Both court filings,however,said that Mandela8217;s breathing was machine assisted.

A close friend of Mandela8217;s,Denis Goldberg,told Sky News on Friday that he visited Mandela on Monday and that Mandela was conscious and responsive to what he was saying. Goldberg also quoted from something Mandela8217;s wife told him. 8221;There is no sign of a general organ collapse and therefore they do not recommend switching off the machine because there8217;s every chance that his health will improve,8221; Goldberg quoted wife Graca Machel as saying. 8221;The matter has been discussed and the decision was against.8221;

A 8221;persistent vegetative state8221; is defined as the condition of patients with severe brain damage in whom coma has progressed to a state of wakefulness without detectable awareness,according to the New England Journal of Medicine. Goldberg said the legal papers that said Mandela was 8221;vegetative8221; might have been written when Mandela was in a coma or unconscious,and that perhaps Mandela then improved.

8216;Maybe he8217;s recovered a bit and that8217;s what I assume,8221; he said. 8221;The lawyers can say what they like. I8217;m telling you what I saw.8221; Still,Mandela8217;s situation is grave. Another court affidavit said that 8221;the anticipation of his impending death is based on real and substantial grounds.8221; A South African doctor,Adri Kok,said it was unlikely that a person of Mandela8217;s age _ he is 94 _ can be taken off mechanical ventilation,another word for life support,and recover.

The court filing came in a case brought by 15 Mandela family members against a Mandela grandson who had moved the remains of three Mandela children from their original burial site. A court ordered the bodies to be moved back to Mandela8217;s hometown of Qunu.The family feud drew a rebuke late Thursday from retired archbishop Desmond Tutu who appealed to the family of Mandela,also known by his clan name Madiba,to overcome their differences.

8221;Please,please,please may we think not only of ourselves. It8217;s almost like spitting in Madiba8217;s face,8221; Tutu said in a statement released by his foundation. 8221;Your anguish,now,is the nation8217;s anguish _ and the world8217;s. We want to embrace you,to support you,to shine our love for Madiba through you. Please may we not besmirch his name.8221; The leader of South Africa8217;s anti-apartheid movement,Mandela spent 27 years in prison during white racist rule. He was freed in 1990 and became South Africa8217;s first black president in 1994.