This is an unfortunate development.

The 78-year-old Texas lawyer who was shot by Vice President Cheney in a hunting accident suffered a "minor heart attack" this morning after a piece of birdshot moved and lodged in his heart, hospital officials said.

Doctors treating Harry Whittington said the Republican lawyer was moved back into the intensive care unit and will need to remain hospitalized for at least a week

A statement issued later by Cheney's office said the vice president spoke to Whittington around 1:30 p.m., wishing him well and asking if he needed anything.

"The vice president said that he stood ready to assist," the statement said. "Mr. Whittington's spirits were good, but obviously his situation deserves the careful monitoring that his doctors are providing."

"Some of the birdshot appears to have moved and lodged into part of his heart," Peter Banko, an administrator and spokesman for Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital, told reporters outside the Corpus Christi hospital. Banko said the birdshot "caused him to have a minor heart attack."

Asked if the birdshot could move more and endanger Whittington's life, David Blanchard, emergency room chief at the hospital, said: "When birdshot is in your body, there's always the risk they can move. We'll watch very closely for any migration."

He said later, however, that the single BB-like piece of birdshot is "in a fixed position" and is not expected to travel. Blanchard said he and other doctors treating Whittington feel "very strongly that all the other birdshot in him is not problematic." The number of other pieces of birdshot in Whittington's body is not known, he said, but could range anywhere from "more than five" to "less than 150 to 200."

I wish Mr. Whittington a speedy recovery to the best of health.

Posted by: Greg at 01:58 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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