Former Argentine president Carlos Menem is in an induced coma after suffering a complication of kidney disease that led him to be admitted ten days ago to a hospital in Buenos Aires, according to the national press.
Sources from Menem’s family environment have told the Argentine newspaper ‘La Nación’ that the doctors have detected a high dose of potassium in his blood that forced him to undergo dialysis to prevent the condition from worsening and, due to his delicate state and advanced age, it has been chosen to induce a coma.
Menem, 90, has been admitted since last week to the coronary unit of the Sanatorio Los Arcos, in Buenos Aires, due to a urinary infection that was complicated by heart problems. Last Sunday, his personal physician, Luis de la Fuente, had reported a small improvement that kept him “stable.”
The former president, who ruled Argentina between 1989 and 1999, has had numerous health problems in recent times. Only during this year has he been admitted two more times, once for pneumonia and another for low blood saturation.
