Little hope for recovery of Prince Friso six months after avalanche

The condition of Dutch Prince Johan Friso who has been in a coma for six months since he was struck by an avalanche whilst skiing in the Austrian resort of Lech remains unchanged and there is little hope of an improvement in his condition doctors say.

According to Dutch doctors the six month point is a critical point where up to this time you can still hope for an improvement.

A medical ethics specialist at the University of Rotterdam Erasmus Hospital said: “The six month point is a critical boundary. Up until that point you always hope for signs of improvement.  The family will face a very difficult decision.

In the Netherlands after six months of a patient being in a coma doctors and relatives discuss ending treatment.

Back in July his brother Prince Willem-Alexander said: “I hope in the future we can report positive news about his condition.

Prince Johan Friso  is in London at the Wellington Hospital in St Johns Wood. He was moved there by air ambulance from Austria two weeks after the accident.

Rescuers estimate he was trapped between 15 and 20 minutes under the snow  before being pulled out from under the snow by a friend who found him using a tracking device that traced the signal of the avalanche transceiver he was wearing.

It is reported he went for 50 minutes before he was reanimated, leaving his brain without oxygen.

Friso who would have been second in line to the Dutch throne gave up the claim after he married Dutch commoner Mabel Wisse Smit in 2004.

The couple have two daughters – Luana and Zaria.

Lech is one of Austria’s top ski resorts popular with celebrities like Tom Cruise but also with members of Europe’s royal families. It was known to be one of the favourite ski destinations of the late Princess Diana.