Jair Bolsonaro has been admitted to the intensive care unit in Brasilia with pneumonia, the DF Star Hospital said Friday, adding that exams confirmed bronchopneumonia likely caused by aspiration. The hospital said Bolsonaro was experiencing symptoms including high fever, low oxygen, sweating and chills. It said he was receiving intravenous antibiotics and non-invasive clinical support.
Hospital spokesman and doctor Brasil Caiado told journalists that Bolsonaro’s condition is serious given his age. “Pneumonia in patients over 70 is always serious because it can progress to septicemia, since the bacteria can normally enter the bloodstream and cause an even more severe condition,” Caiado said.
Earlier in the day, Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Flávio Bolsonaro, said on X that his father was being transferred from prison to a hospital after waking up with chills and vomiting. “I ask for prayers that it not be anything serious,” Flávio Bolsonaro wrote.
DF Star Hospital said Bolsonaro was transferred to the intensive care unit after medical exams and that he is being treated in a hospital setting. Caiado, a cardiologist, said it was unlikely Bolsonaro would return to prison in the next few days because the treatment is intravenous and requires hospital care.
Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence in connection with the attempt to overthrow Brazil’s democratic system after his 2022 election defeat. He was convicted last year by a panel of Supreme Court justices, and authorities have said the plot included plans to kill President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The case also included plans to encourage an insurrection in early 2023.
Relatives have repeatedly asked the Supreme Court to allow Bolsonaro to carry out his sentence under house arrest, arguing that he is being mistreated and is receiving insufficient medical attention. The court has refuted those claims and refused to allow him to serve the sentence at home.
On Friday, Carlos Bolsonaro said on X that “the system, literally and insistently, (is) trying to kill” his father. The court has previously rejected similar claims, according to the AP report.
Bolsonaro has been hospitalized multiple times since he was stabbed at a campaign event before the 2018 presidential election. In January, police escorted him to the same hospital for brain tests after he fell from his bed.