Skip to main content

Cheney released from hospital

Former Vice President Dick Cheney worked on a chapter of a book he is writing while hospitalized, sources said.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney worked on a chapter of a book he is writing while hospitalized, sources said.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Former Vice President Dick Cheney had mild heart attack
  • Cheney expected to resume normal schedule, spokesman says
  • Cheney underwent stress test and heart catheterization, his office says
  • Former vice president has had five heart attacks

Washington (CNN) -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney was released Wednesday from a Washington hospital after suffering a mild heart attack, a spokesman said.

"Former Vice President Cheney is feeling good this morning and was discharged" from George Washington University Hospital, spokesman Peter Long said in a statement. "He will resume his normal schedule shortly."

Cheney's office said Tuesday that the 69-year-old had suffered a mild heart attack after complaining of chest pains and being hospitalized Monday.

"Lab testing revealed evidence of a mild heart attack," the statement said. "He underwent a stress test and a heart catheterization. He is feeling good and is expected to be discharged in the next day or two."

During the catheterization, doctors examined blood flow to the heart and tested how well the heart was pumping.

Video: A look at Cheney's medical history
RELATED TOPICS

In the procedure, a doctor inserts a catheter, a thin plastic tube, into an artery or vein in the arm or leg and threads it into the chambers of the heart or into the coronary arteries. The test can measure blood pressure within the heart and how much oxygen the blood contains.

Two sources said Tuesday that Cheney had lunch with family members in his hospital room. He also worked with them to edit a chapter of a book he is writing.

He was described as being in good spirits.

Cheney made and received calls much of the afternoon, a source said. Among those who called to wish him well were former President George W. Bush, Vice President Joe Biden, former top aides and friends, the source said.

Monday's heart attack was Cheney's fifth. The first occurred in 1978, when he was 37. He suffered his second in 1984 and a third in 1988 before undergoing quadruple bypass surgery to unblock his arteries. His fourth heart attack occurred in November 2000. At that time, doctors inserted a stent to open an artery.

The following year, doctors implanted a device to track and control his heart rhythm. In 2008, he underwent a procedure to restore his heart to a normal rhythm after doctors found that he was experiencing a recurrence of atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm that affects the heart's two upper chambers.

Special coverage: Matters of the Heart

Since leaving office in January 2009, Cheney has been a critic of the Obama administration, accusing it of failing to treat the fight against terrorists as a war. He has cited the decisions to try accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court, to bring the failed Christmas Day airline bomber into the U.S. criminal justice system and to shut the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Cheney also served in the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford and George H.W. Bush.

CNN's John King contributed to this report.