By AP/KWMU
Washington, DC – Doctors in Washington are expected to decide Tuesday whether Attorney General John Ashcroft needs surgery.
He's been unable to do any work since being hospitalized last week with severe gallstone pancreatitis.
The former Missouri Governor and Senator has a gallstone that's blocking a passage between his pancreas and small intestine.
A Justice Department spokesman says the 61-year old Ashcroft is being treated with antibiotics and painkillers.
Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas, a gland that secretes digestive enzymes and insulin.