Doctors offer to cut Mandela's life support

Nelson Mandela's doctors said their patient is in a  “permanent vegetative state” and suggested that he be taken off life support, according to Agence-France Press.

Reports of the iconic South African leader's failing health have generated widespread concern. He was hospitalized on June 8 for a lung infection but his health has quickly deteriorated.

A “Certificate of Urgency” document filed by a Mandela family lawyer said relatives "have been advised by the medical practitioners that his life support machine should be switched off. Rather than prolonging his suffering, the Mandela family is exploring this option as a very real probability," according to the June 26 filing obtained by AFP.

The furor in South Africa gained has gained momentum thanks to a family feud over Mandela family burial rites. Mlawu Tyatyeka, a specialist on the family's Xhosa roots, told The New York Daily News on Thursday that the dispute probably went public because the family fears his passing is imminent.

South African authorities have not been particularly forthcoming on Mandela, saying earlier that his condition was "critical but stable," according to Australia's Herald Sun.


/GlobalPost.Com/