Nelson Mandela's health 'perilous,' court documents say
Pretoria, South Africa (CNN) -- Ailing former South African President Nelson Mandela's health had declined so sharply last week that his family was considering whether to take him off life support before the government reported his condition had stabilized, according to a court document released Thursday.
The document, known as a "certificate of urgency," was filed on June 26. It stated that the 94-year-old Mandela "has taken a turn for the worst and that the Mandela family 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," it stated.
The following day, however, South African President Jacob Zuma announced that Mandela's condition had improved to critical but stable. Zuma visited Mandela in the hospital Thursday and said Mandela remains in that critical-but-stable condition, according to a statement from his office.
[link to www.cnn.com]