document: A seriously ill Elizabeth Taylor battled pneumonia at her hospital , her breathing assisted by a ventilator , doctors say . Hospital officials described her condition late Monday as stabilizing after a lung biopsy to determine the cause of the pneumonia . Analysis of the tissue sample was expected to take until Thursday , said her spokeswoman , Chen Sam . The 58-year-old actress , who won best-actress Oscars for `` Butterfield 8 '' and `` Who 's Afraid of Virginia Woolf , '' has been hospitalized more than two weeks . She was in the intensive care unit at St. John 's Hospital and Health Center . `` She is seriously ill , '' her doctors said in a statement . `` After surgery , her breathing is now being assisted by a ventilator . Her condition is presently stabilizing and her physicians are pleased with her progress . '' Another spokewoman for the actress , Lisa Del Favaro , said Miss Taylor 's family was at her bedside . She did not identify the family members . Miss Taylor entered Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital on April 9 with a persistent fever and sinus infection , doctors said . Her condition worsened and she was transferred April 16 to St. John 's and moved into intensive care on Friday . `` It is serious , but they are really pleased with her progress . She 's not well . She 's not on her deathbed or anything , '' Ms. Sam said late Monday . While it is unusual to put a pneumonia patient on a ventilator , it does not mean that person is near death , said Dr. John G. Mohler , a University of Southern California lung disease expert who emphasized he had no direct knowledge of Miss Taylor 's condition . Doctors may put a patient on a ventilator simply to restore oxygen in the blood to proper levels if pneumonia-related breathing difficulties have reduced those levels , Mohler said . `` It may be that because she is such a prominent person , they are taking a conservative course , '' he added . Miss Taylor has been plagued with health problems for years , particularly back troubles from filming of `` National Velvet ' in 1945 , when she fell off a horse . In 1983 she acknowledged a 35-year addiction to sleeping pills and painkillers . Miss Taylor has been treated for alcohol and drug abuse at the Betty Ford Clinic . During a nearly fatal bout with pneumonia in 1961 , Miss Taylor underwent a tracheotomy , an incision into her windpipe to help her breathe . She appeared at the 1961 Academy Awards with a bandage over her scar as she accepted the `` Butterfield 8 '' Oscar .
extractive_keyphrases: elizabeth taylor miss taylor lung biopsy sinus infection health problems pneumonia
abstractive_keyphrases: 58-year-old actress st. john's hospital