Marchionne In Grave Condition - May Never Recover From Medical Issues

Not that it means anything, but his Wikipedia page says he died today.

It's come out too in various reports that his lungs are engulfed with cancer which is why he's on a respirator and likely why he can't come off it.

Not anymore.

What doesn't make much sense, particularly now in hindsight, is the report that he entered the hospital for "shoulder surgery", that the outcome was such a surprise, and that elaborate succession plans were already in place and quickly executed. I suspect that the shoulder story is a red herring.

Indeed there is fish in the water. How cold Sergio decide to step down if he was in a coma when he decided to do it?

No - It is not unusual for a person's first indication of Spreading cancer is something that seems unrelated - a pain somewhere that cannot be diagnosed. IT is just as possible that he had a legitimate problem with his shoulder - BUT upon internal sight - was found to be cancerous.

AS is often the case - the first SYMPTOM of many very virulent diseases is Death because there is no other outer indication. And opening up a patient with spreading cancer and exposing it to air - often speeds the process as well.

The way this happened is not unusual at all. The only guarantee a living entity gets - regardless of how they live their life - is death. All life eventually dies. I fell sorry for him and his family because dealing with sudden death is often harder Psychologically than dealing with a long term debilitating illness that leads to death - because you have time to prepare for the inevitable.

Clearly he was not pushed out. The last time he was seen in public the comments were that he was extremely tired and fatigued as well as seeming breathless. This was at the end of June. 5 days later he was admitted to the hospital. If he is in a coma and on a respirator it could be days or hours before he passes on. Very hard to tell. But he was a very heavy smoker most of his life. They say he only quit last year.

I would be very surprised if he has diffusely metastatic cancer as some suggest. Top executives such as him have extensive medical exams with full tumor marker panels and full body CT scans yearly. If he had cancer you would have seen signs of chemo/radiation treatment long before June because any tumors would have been caught well before bone metastasis. The most plausible explanation would be a COPD exacerbation after shoulder surgery which led to respiratory failure. If it was known that he had diffuse cancer, and suffered a shoulder fracture that needed repair, FCA would have not made an announcement about him having "routine shoulder surgery".

Agree that a CEO like him would normally have extensive annual exams but Sergio is a workaholic and probably skipped all those. Too busy. European attitude about those things tends to be different. Lots of cancers are well hidden until they suddenly come forward, often with some unreal. Undergoing general anesthesia would stress the lungs and bring it into the open.

Should read "often with some unrelated event"

Latest from Detroit news was that Sergio had hidden for a long time that he had a severe invasive shoulder sarcoma. It is a cancer of the bones and connective tissues. The operation was very high risk and he knew it. It is likely that thought had been given as what should happen if he didn't make it. He allegedly had a cerebral embolism (stroke) during the operation and has been in a coma ever since. Docs have no hope of recovery.