Triumphant Procedures In Cardiology
Triumphant Procedures in Cardiology-Lessons from Dick Cheney
- Vice President Dick Cheneys 33-year battle with heart disease illustrates the evolution of triumphant advances in cardiology that evolved over the past half century that allowed him to serve the nation for 40 years, albeit controversial. He has had five heart attacks, one bypass surgery, several angioplasty/stents, implanted cardioverter defibrillator, and finally aleft ventricular assist device implantation. Cheneys medical history is a fascinating tale of the combination of perseverance, technology and unprecedented cardiovascular innovation.
- As Cheney recounts in Wall Street Journal , life-saving techniques for heart attacks were non-existent back in the 1950s, when his grandfather died from one before reaching the hospital. The vice president is a recipient of virtually all cutting-edge cardiac procedures throughout the years that have kept him not only alive but working fulltime at the highest levels of the government, up until his recent retirement.
- Cardiology has improved more in the six decades since his grandfather died than all of previous history. A new advance, often unavailable even a few years before, has always outpaced the progress of his heart disease and of his career. Ive been extraordinarily fortunate to live in a place and a time when all that was going on, Mr. Cheney says.
Economic Implications of Advances in Technology
Dick Cheney becomes The Million Dollar Man.
Texas Parks And Wildlife Department Report
On February 13, 2006, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department issued an incident report. According to the report, Cheney “was swinging on game”, i.e., turning to track it with his shotgun. The summary of the incident given was:
Whittington downed a bird and went to retrieve it. While he was out of the hunting line, another covey was flushed and Cheney swung on a bird and fired, striking Whittington in the face, neck and chest.
The report cited clear and sunny weather at the time of the shooting.
Views On President Obama
On December 29, 2009, four days after the attempted bombing of an international passenger flight from the Netherlands to United States, Cheney criticized Obama: ” are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren’t, it makes us less safe. … Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war? It doesn’t fit with the view of the world he brought with him to the Oval Office. It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency social transformation the restructuring of American society.” In response, White House Communications DirectorDan Pfeiffer wrote on the official White House blog the following day, “t is telling that Vice President Cheney and others seem to be more focused on criticizing the Administration than condemning the attackers. Unfortunately too many are engaged in the typical Washington game of pointing fingers and making political hay, instead of working together to find solutions to make our country safer.”
During a February 14, 2010 appearance on ABC‘s This Week, Cheney reiterated his criticism of the Obama administration‘s policies for handling suspected terrorists, criticizing the “mindset” of treating “terror attacks against the United States as criminal acts as opposed to acts of war”.
In a May 2, 2011, interview with ABC News, Cheney praised the Obama administration for the covert military operation in Pakistan that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.
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Early White House Appointments
Cheney’s political career began in 1969, as an intern for Congressman William A. Steiger during the Richard Nixon Administration. He then joined the staff of Donald Rumsfeld, who was then Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity from 1969 to 1970. He held several positions in the years that followed: White House Staff Assistant in 1971, Assistant Director of the Cost of Living Council from 1971 to 1973, and Deputy Assistant to the president from 1974 to 1975. As deputy assistant, Cheney suggested several options in a memo to Rumsfeld, including use of the US Justice Department, that the Ford administration could use to limit damage from an article, published by The New York Times, in which investigative reporter Seymour Hersh reported that Navy submarines had tapped into Soviet undersea communications as part of a highly classified program, Operation Ivy Bells.
Cheney was Assistant to the President and White House Deputy Chief of Staff under Gerald Ford from December 1974 to November 1975. When Rumsfeld was named Secretary of Defense, Cheney became White House Chief of Staff, succeeding Rumsfeld. He later was campaign manager for Ford’s 1976 presidential campaign.
Does Dick Cheney Have A Pulse
Doctors implant device that keeps former VP alive until possible transplant.
How Can Someone Have 5 Heart Attacks?
July 15, 2010 — Former Vice President Dick Cheney, 69, who underwent surgery last week to implant a pump to assist his heart, may be only one step away from a heart transplant, according to cardiac experts. They say he could find himself on a wait list for “months or years.”
Cardiologists say the former vice president has a left ventricular assist device , which is often used as a so-called “destination” or permanent device, but in his case is likely a “bridge” that will keep him alive until he can receive a transplant.
Many patients with such pumps are described as not having a pulse, because the continuous flow of the LVAD — much like water circulating in a fish tank rather than pumping like a heart — can make the pulse indiscernible.
But heart experts say that only patients who depend on LVADs for 100 percent of their circulation are essentially without a heartbeat. Cheney’s device is likely doing 30 to 60 percent of the heart’s work.
“The HeartMate II is used in situations where the patient’s native heart continues to pump, but not normally and effectively,” said Dr. Timothy J. Gardner, a heart surgeon at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, Delaware, and past president of the American Heart Association.
“But it’s enough to have some detectable pulse, ” he said.
Cheney’s doctors said his operation went well and he is now recuperating.
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His Heart Donors Identity Isnt Known
Despite hints, rumors, and theories otherwise, Dick Cheney and his family do not know the identity of his heart donor. Yahoo News reported in 2013 that Cheney and his family never knew the identity of his donor or the circumstances of the persons death. Cheney said, Id been given the gift of additional lives, additional years of life. For the family of the donor, theyd just been some terrible tragedy, theyd lost a family member I always thank the donor, generically thank donors, for the gift that Ive been given, but I dont spend time wondering who had it, what theyd done, what kind of person.There are some hints about his heart donor, however. Cheney received his heart over Spring Break. Dr. Chauncey Crandall, chief of the cardiac transplant program at the Palm Beach Cardiovascular Clinic, said that heart donors can be young or older But holidays and holiday weekends, like Spring Break, increase the chances of getting a heart donor because young people have so many accidents during those times. Because of the timing of his transplant, its possible his donor was younger.
The Daily Beast had an interesting note in 2012. They said that when Cheney got his transplant at the Inova Fairfax Hospital on March 26, 2012, 31 other people were waiting on heart transplants, and 15 were between the ages of 50 to 64, and three were older than 65.
Cheney Older Waited Longer Than Average For Heart Transplant
By , Debra Sherman
5 Min Read
CHICAGO – At 71, former Vice President Dick Cheney was older than average for a heart transplant, but doctors said on Sunday that advances in care have made it possible for older patients to still be good transplant candidates.
And not only was he older than the typical patient, but he waited longer than average as well — 20 months vs six months to a year.
Doctors said Cheney must have been in excellent health to have survived five heart attacks and still been eligible for a heart transplant. Cheney is recovering at a Washington-area hospital after transplant surgery on Saturday.
Hes obviously received superb care, said Dr. James Kirklin, director of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a recent past president of the International Society of Heart & Lung Transplantation.
Hes an elderly man who likely has taken very, very good care of himself to be in this good shape at age 71. It appears that he has been relatively lucky to have avoided major organ problems that would have precluded a transplant, said Kirklin, who is not treating Cheney.
Hospitals have traditionally set 65 as the upper limit for heart transplant. But older patients increasingly are getting them, and there is no absolute cut-off age.
Dick Cheneys overall risk would probably be a bit higher than a 60-year-old, but the most important thing would be the function of his organs, which we analyze in great detail.
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Remembering Why Americans Loathe Dick Cheney
As the former vice-president releases his memoir, it’s useful to recall the many reasons Americans disapproved of his tenure.
As the former vice president releases his memoir, its useful to recall the many reasons why the vast majority of Americans disapproved of his tenure.
When Vice President Dick Cheney left office, his approval rating stood at a staggeringly low 13 percent. Few political figures in history have been so reviled. As his memoir, In My Time, hits bookstores today, and he does a series of friendly interviews in the press, some Americans with short memories might wonder, Why is it that so few were willing to endorse his performance in office?
This is a reminder.
THE WAR IN IRAQ
President Bush bears ultimate responsibility for the Iraq War, as do the members of Congress who voted for it. But Dick Cheneys role in the run-up to war was uniquely irresponsible and mendacious. And after the invasion, he contributed to the early dysfunction on the ground. Even Iraq War supporters should rue his involvement.
Hylton then lays out his most powerful argument:
The piece also charges that as the war devolved into occupation, the vice president again sabotaged the democratic system, developing back channels into the Coalition Provisional Authority, a body not under his purview, to remove some of the most effective staff and replace them with his own loyal supplicantsundercutting Americas best effort at war in order to expand his own power.
TORTURE
HALLIBURTON
Dick Cheney: Heart Implant Attack Was Credible
Dick Cheney, the former US vice-president, has revealed that he had his heart implant modified for fear of terrorist attack.
Mr Cheney’s doctor disabled the heart defibrillator’s wireless function in 2007 to prevent would-be assassins from interfering with it and causing a fatal heart attack.
A similar scenario featured in an episode of the hit TV series Homeland.
“I found it credible,” Mr Cheney told CBS TV’s 60 Minutes programme.
“I know from the experience we had, and the necessity for adjusting my own device, that it was an accurate portrayal of what was possible,” said Mr Cheney, who was President George W Bush’s right-hand man during the “war on terror”.
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Lawyer Shot By Dick Cheney Has Heart Attack
Harry Whittington, the 78-year-old lawyer accidentally shot by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney over the weekend, is reported to have suffered a minor heart attack after some of the shotgun pellets entered his heart.
The Associated Press is reporting that Whittington remains in stable condition.
He has no chest pain or other indications associated with a heart attack, and doctors are watching for any indication that the pellets may be moving within his chest.
For more on this breaking news story, please go to your preferred online or broadcast source for international news.
He Said A Lot Of That Stuff
Cheneys final monologue to camera, where he justifies his bullish behavior, consists of all quotes taken from Cheney, McKay promises. When movie Cheney responds on ABC News to the statement that two-thirds of Americans say is not worth fighting, he uses real Cheneys word: So?
And the movie uses authentic news footage of Harry Whittington, the man Cheney accidentally shot while quail hunting. Whittington is seen apologizing to his shooter for what and his family had to go through.
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Dick Cheney Feared Assassination By Shock To Implanted Heart Defibrillator
The former United States vice-president Dick Cheney was so fearful of assassination by terrorists sending an electronic shock to his implanted heart defibrillator that he ordered doctors to fit a new device without a wi-fi capability.
The extraordinary admission comes in the 72-year-old’s new book Heart: An American Medical Odyssey, in which he also reveals that two months after his 2001 inauguration he prepared a letter of resignation to President George W Bush that he carried with him almost constantly, which he could hand over if he felt his health deteriorating.
Cheney, a fiercely loyal deputy during both terms of Bush’s administration, has suffered five heart attacks since the age of 37 and had a heart transplant last year. In an interview to support his book on the CBS show 60 Minutes, due to air on Sunday night, he describes his current health as “a miracle”.
But it is Cheney’s fear of assassination that will provide a major talking point from the interview and book, which was written in conjunction with his longtime cardiologist, Dr Jonathan Reiner.
A fictional vice-president in the hit US television drama Homeland was murdered by terrorists sending an electronic signal to his pacemaker, in an episode several years after Cheney had his device fitted, in June 2001. It was an alarming plotline, he said.
Reiner said Cheney asked him in 2007 to remove the defibrillator and replace it with one that had no wireless capability.
Public Perception And Legacy
Cheney’s early public opinion polls were more favorable than unfavorable, reaching his peak approval rating in the wake of the at 68 percent. However, polling numbers for both him and the president gradually declined in their second terms, with Cheney reaching his lowest point shortly before leaving office at 13 percent. Cheney’s Gallup poll figures are mostly consistent with those from other polls:
In April 2007, Cheney was awarded an honorary doctorate of public service by Brigham Young University, where he delivered the commencement address. His selection as commencement speaker was controversial. The college board of trustees issued a statement explaining that the invitation should be viewed “as one extended to someone holding the high office of vice president of the United States rather than to a partisan political figure”. BYU permitted a protest to occur so long as it did not “make personal attacks against Cheney, attack BYU administration, the church or the First Presidency“.
Cheney has been cited as the most powerful vice president in American history.
Cheney has been compared to Darth Vader, a characterization originated by his critics, but which was later adopted humorously by Cheney himself as well as by members of his family and staff.
The federal building in Casper, Wyoming is named the Dick Cheney Federal Building.
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Is Dick Cheney Too Old For A Heart Transplant
Cheney is recovering from heart transplant surgery at 71 years old.
Dick Cheney’s New Heart
Cheney, 71, who received the new heart Saturday at a hospital in Falls Church, Va., has been on the cardiac transplant list for more than 20 months.
Some medical centers will not perform a heart transplant on patient over 65, but other major centers will perform transplants on patients who are as old as 72.
In any case, transplants at Cheney’s age are not unheard of: Last year 332 heart transplants were performed on people over 65, and according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, 14 percent of recepients are over the age of 65.
“Patients from 18 all the way up to 71 years old, are on the same national list and you’re listed on the basis of medical urgency and then how long you’ve been waiting,” said Dr. Jonathan Chen, an adjunct associate professor of surgery at Columbia University in New York.
ABC News chief medical editor Dr. Richard Besser said the average waiting time for a heart transplant at UCLA Medical Center is three to six months. But Cheney waited for more than 20 months to receive a new heart.
Experts differ on whether the 20-month wait is longer than normal.
“Twenty months, as an outpatient, not unusually long wait,” Dr. Marrick Kukin, director of heart failure at St. Lukes Roosevelt in New York said.
Walsh expects Cheney will have an easy recovery from the transplant partly because “he is used to heart surgeries.”
Dick Cheney Hunting Accident
On February 11, 2006, then-United States vice presidentDick Cheney accidentally shot Harry Whittington, a then-78-year-old Texasattorney, with a 28-gaugePerazzishotgun while participating in a quail hunt on a ranch in Riviera, Texas. Both Cheney and Whittington called the incident an accident.
The incident was reported to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times on February 12, 2006, by ranch owner Katherine Armstrong. The Bush administration disclosed the shooting incident to the public the afternoon of February 12. Local authorities released a report on the shooting on February 16, 2006, and witness statements on February 22.
On February 14, 2006, Whittington suffered a non-fatal heart attack and atrial fibrillation due to at least one lead-shot pellet lodged in or near his heart. He also had a collapsed lung. Cheney did not speak publicly about the incident until February 15 in an interview with Fox News. Early reports indicated that Cheney and Whittington were friends and that the injuries were minor. Whittington later clarified that he and Cheney were not close friends but acquaintances.
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