Spain King Making 'Satisfactory' Progress after Hip Operation
Spain's King Juan Carlos is making "satisfactory" progress a day after surgeons replaced his left hip, doctors said Friday, in the latest of a series of health woes that have raised questions over his reign.
The 75-year-old king, who has appeared in public on crutches and looking frail this year, could face a wait of up to three months before he can walk again unaided, his surgeons say.
"His majesty's progress is satisfactory," said a spokeswoman for the private Quiron hospital in the western suburbs of Madrid.
"The patient is clinically stable, with his pain under control and medical test results within the normal range," she said, reading out a medical bulletin on the king's health status.
After the operation Thursday morning, the Spanish monarch had been transferred in the evening to his room where he had a "good night", the hospital spokeswoman said.
Visiting doctors from a U.S. clinic on Thursday fitted a permanent prosthesis in a two-and-a-half hour follow-up operation to replace a temporary one that was implanted on September 24 after the area around the previous joint got infected.
The surgeons said after the operation that the infection had been overcome and initial test results were good. They expected the king to walk again unaided in 10-12 weeks but warned he would have to avoid running and vigorous sports.
Thursday's procedure was the king's ninth operation since May 2010. He has had surgery on a benign lump in his lung, his right knee, an Achilles tendon, a slipped disc, two operations on his right hip and three on his left.
The sight of the king on crutches over recent months and the news of the latest operations had fueled speculation of a possible abdication, but the palace flatly denied the king was considering that.
Juan Carlos is widely respected for his role in guiding Spain's transition to democracy after the death of longtime dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975.
But his image has since suffered from scandal.
A corruption investigation was opened in 2011 targeting his youngest daughter Cristina's husband, former Olympic handball player Inaki Urdangarin.
Neither Cristina nor her husband have been charged with any crime and both deny any wrongdoing.
The king also lost sympathy last year for going on an expensive elephant-hunting trip in Botswana, while Spaniards struggled through a recession.
Source: Agence France Presse
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