Ljubljana Hospital Secrets: How Tito Fought for His Life

 By Titan007

Dr. Milomir Stanković, personal physician to Josip Broz Tito, was the doctor who treated the Marshal in the hospital in Ljubljana. He stood by Tito during the final days of the former leader of the SFRY.

“His treatment was kept secret. My wife came by, and I couldn’t even tell her that in the morning we would have to amputate Tito’s leg. I never knew who might be listening,” Dr. Stanković began.

The injections Tito needed were carried in doctors’ bags so the public wouldn’t see them. Journalists watched everything they could through the corridor windows.

“On May 15, at his residence, he came out of the bathroom—showered, shaved—waiting for his injection. He watched my every move. He trusted me. At that time, I was a physician at the Military Medical Academy,” Stanković said.

Stanković noticed the Marshal’s foot during physical therapy and realized it didn’t look good.

“He told me that if his leg failed, he’d take matters into his own hands. When he had to go to the hospital, we hid the pistol he secretly kept in a bag. No one was allowed to say the leg had to be amputated. Everyone kept backing endless therapy. It dragged on until the leg withered. Once it did, it began poisoning his body,” Stanković recalled.

After the amputation, Tito was satisfied with the operation.

“Everyone felt relieved—the doctors, and he himself,” Stanković said.

But the delay in surgery took its toll.

“He was several times at death’s door, but with infusions, transfusions, intubations, and a dialysis machine, Tito came back to life. Once, he even woke from a coma,” the doctor said.

“It was a major mistake to indulge the idea of treating him with medications instead of surgery. The cause of his death was a sclerotic plaque in the femoral artery that was closing about 50% of the vessel, which led to bleeding. That artery could have been easily cleared. I could have done it, but I didn’t have the authority—and Tito wouldn’t have allowed it,” Stanković concluded.