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Chicago, Ill., Sept. 13 - For the fourth time in Indiana history, a governor has died while in office. Governor Frank O'Bannon passed away at 11:33 Saturday morning at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
It was five days after the governor suffered a stroke while attending a trade conference.
Doctors said the 73-year-old governor had been making progress and showing signs of recovery, but started showing signs of deterioration Friday night just before midnight. He became very unstable and vital signs decreased. Doctors say the family made the decision to take him off medications that were controlling his blood pressure.
Saturday at 6 p.m. Acting Governor Joe Kernan was sworn in as the 48th governor of the state of Indiana.
A statement from the governor's office said, "The governor's condition worsened early this morning as he experienced an increase in the swelling of his brain. "Despite all measures administered by physicians to control his intracranial pressure, it continued to rise and subsequently caused his vital signs to go from stable to unstable.
"The governor experienced a drop in both blood pressure and heart rate. Based on the governor's living will, First Lady Judy OBannon and the family decided to use no further means of support and care and the governor died naturally."
Governor O'Bannon designated that he wished to donate organs, so his body will arrive in Indianapolis Saturday evening.
The O'Bannons have three children, Polly, Jennifer and Jonathon, and five grandchildren.
The flag at the Indiana Statehouse is flying a half-staff.
Statement from Dr. Wesley Yapor, attending neurosurgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago:
"Mr. O'Bannon came to the hospital (Monday) with a massive stroke. He also had bleeding into portions of the stroke on the right side of the brain, and he had secondary injuries to the left side of the brain, with injuries from both the right and left side secondary to the heavy injury that we presume he had.
"The initial efforts were to reduce intercranial pressure by removing not only devitalized tissue but also blood clots from both the right and left side of the brain.
"Upon presentation to the emergency room, Mr. O'Bannon had very little in response. Immediately after surgery and by the next day, he did have more responses.
"The following day, on Wednesday, he had slightly better responses.
"He remained fairly stable in his responses up until late last night/early this morning, when pressure inside the skull began to rise. And this caused him to have unstable vital signs.
"Efforts at decreasing the pressure in the brain, which included medications, drainage of spinal fluid, hyperventilation, as well as others, were unsuccessful.
"After very personal discussions with the O'Bannon family, with the severe injuries he had in the brain and following his wishes as stated in his living will, life support was discontinued, and he passed away at 11:33 this morning."
