The Internet was once again abuzz with news of Michael Schumacher’s death on Thursday, following which the hospital where he is being treated was forced to issue a statement refuting the claims.
“The hospital denies that Michael Schumacher has died,” the Grenoble University Hospital said in the statement, according to The Daily Mail.
The rumor, which spread on social networking platforms such as Twitter, cited Brazilian news reports as saying that the Formula One legend was dead.
“Brazilian newspaper reporting Michael Schumacher as dead? Anyone heard about this?” a tweet read.
“PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE We need official update about Michael to stop these VICIOUS AND HORRIBLE rumours,” Hazel Graham wrote on the F1 racer’s official Facebook page.
This is the second death hoax since Suhumacher’s accident in the French Alps on December 29. Soon after the accident, a number of Facebook pages such as R.I.P Michael Schumacher and RIP Michael Schumacher 1969 – 2014 made its appearance on the social networking site and garnered a sizeable number of likes.
Schumacher, who was placed in a medically induced coma to help his brain heal, was being brought back from coma, and is said to be responding positively.
The aim of the doctors now is to ensure he does not get pneumonia, the Irish Mirror reported, adding that due to the body’s inefficient swallowing mechanism, saliva can run into the lungs and cause respiratory infections.
“About 30 to 50 percent of all patients who lie in a coma as long as Michael Schumacher has get it,”Andreas Pingel, medical director of the Centre for Spine Surgery and Neuro-Traumatology at the BG Hospital in Frankfurt told Germany’s Focus Magazine, according to the Irish Mirror.
