Tracheotomy Performed on Havel

Czech President Vaclav Havel underwent a tracheotomy amid fears he might be developing pneumonia eight days after serious abdominal surgery. Doctors performed the procedure, in which a small hole is cut into the throat to facilitate breathing, because of a lung inflammation, said Boris Stastny, a member of the medical team treating Havel at Prague’s military hospital. After the operation, Havel, 61, was in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Dr. Ernst Bodner, who performed the 90-minute surgery, said it was complicated by scarring from Havel’s three previous tracheotomies.