Schroeder in Critical Condition

William J. Schroeder was alert and responding to verbal commands today as doctors tried to pinpoint the extent of damage from a brain hemorrhage that ended the longest-living artificial heart recipient’s 30-day liberty outside the hospital, officials said.

Schroeder, on his 164th day with the plastic heart, was in critical but stable condition at Humana Hospital Audubon, where computer-enhanced X-rays Monday showed bleeding in the left side of his brain, a hospital spokesman said.