Mother Teresa, Suffering From Weak Heart, Is Kept on Respirator

Mother Teresa, beloved for spending most of her 85 years ministering to the poorest of the poor, suffered a reduced flow of blood to her heart Friday. Doctors kept her on a respirator for a second day.

Doctors were giving Mother Teresa an anticoagulant to ease the flow of blood through her left ventricle, one of the four chambers of the heart, which failed Friday. Her temperature was still 100 degrees, and she was receiving anti-malaria drugs.

The tiny, frail Roman Catholic nun was admitted to the hospital Tuesday with malarial fever. Doctors put her on the respirator Thursday when her heart stopped beating for nearly a minute. She was revived with electric shocks. Doctors said complications from her malaria brought on the heart attack.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who will be 86 on Tuesday, was alert enough Friday to receive visitors, including the chief minister of the state of West Bengal, but she could not speak because of the respirator equipment, doctors said.