Mother Teresa Treated for Erratic Heartbeat

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, showing some improvement though she remains seriously ill with pneumonia, was treated for an irregular heartbeat Friday, her doctors said.

Although the 81-year-old Catholic missionary nun and winner of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize is in “good spirits” and is eating solid foods, her physicians said at a daily briefing Friday that they “remain concerned” about her.

X-rays show that Mother Teresa’s lungs are beginning to clear, said her primary doctors, Patricia Aubanel and Paul Teirstein. She was hospitalized for pneumonia Dec. 26 at the Scripps Clinic & Research Foundation in La Jolla.

“I’m actually breathing a little easier this morning,” Teirstein said of his patient’s improving status. Still, doctors said, “signs of a serious infection remain.”

Mother Teresa experienced an irregular heartbeat Friday morning that lasted for less than 15 minutes and was treated with medicine. The episode was not life-threatening.

During her hospitalization, the nun most known for her work among “the poorest of the poor” in Calcutta underwent angioplasty, a procedure to clear clogged coronary arteries. Her physicians say she is at risk for complications from that process for another three or four weeks.

Scripps officials say letters and telephone calls offering prayers and support continue to pour into the clinic.

A prayer vigil will be held outside the clinic from 7:30-9 p.m. Sunday, said Ozzie Venzor of Encinitas, a member of the lay organization known as Co-Workers of Mother Teresa.

Mother Teresa was in Tijuana, visiting her local community of sisters, monks and priests there, when she fell ill last month.