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  • Man Shot by Cheney Has Heart Irregularity

    Man Shot by Cheney Has Heart Irregularity
    Veep Cited After Blasting Hunting Buddy With Bird Shot
    By NEDRA PICKLER, AP

    Breaking News: The man shot by Vice President Dick Cheney experienced a heart irregularity after birdshot moved into his heart.

    WASHINGTON (Feb. 14) - Vice President Dick Cheney was in violation of the game laws of Texas when he accidentally shot and wounded his hunting companion because his license lacked a required hunting stamp.

    Cheney wounded fellow hunter Harry Whittington in the face, neck and chest Saturday, apparently because he didn't see Whittington approach as he fired toward a covey of quail on a southern Texas ranch.

    Hunting safety experts interviewed Monday agreed it would have been a good idea for Whittington to have announced himself as he approached Cheney, which he apparently did not do, according to a witness. Under the rules of hunting, however, they stressed that the shooter is responsible for knowing his surroundings and avoiding hitting others.

    "We always stress to anybody that before you make any kind of a shot, it's incumbent upon the shooter to assess the situation and make sure it's a safe shot," said Mark Birkhauser, president-elect of the International Hunter Education Association and hunter education coordinator in New Mexico. "Once you squeeze that trigger, you can't bring that shot back."

    In Texas, Whittington, 78, remained in Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial, where he was taken by helicopter Saturday night, but was moved from intensive care to a "step-down unit" Monday morning. David Blanchard, the hospital's chief of emergency care, said his recovery and spirits have been excellent. He remained listed in stable condition.

    Blanchard said, however, that in cases like Whittington's, where the number of bird shot pellets lodged in the skin was "more than I can count on the fingers of my hand, but less than 100," it was better to leave them there than to try to extract them. Millionaire Whittington, he said, most probably will live out his life with the pellets in his body.

    The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said Cheney and Whittington would be given warning citations for violating game law by not having an upland game bird stamp, a requirement that went into effect in September. Cheney had the required $125 nonresident hunting license, the vice president's office said Monday night in a statement, and he has sent a $7 check to the state to cover the cost of the stamp.

    Cheney, an experienced hunter, has not commented publicly about the accident. He avoided reporters Monday by leaving a White House meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan before the press was escorted in.

    President George W. Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove, told Bush about Cheney's involvement in the accident shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday, about an hour after it occurred, but the White House did not disclose the accident until Sunday afternoon, and then only in response to press questions. Press secretary Scott McClellan said he did not know until Sunday morning that the vice president had shot someone.

    Facing a press corps upset that news had been withheld, McClellan said, "I think you can always look back at these issues and look at how to do a better job."

    Katharine Armstrong, the owner of the ranch where the shooting occurred, said she told Cheney on Sunday morning that she was going to inform the local paper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. She said he agreed, and the newspaper reported it on its Web site Sunday afternoon.

    Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren said that about an hour after Cheney shot Whittington, the head of the Secret Service's local office called the Kenedy County sheriff to report the accident. "They made arrangements at the sheriff's request to have deputies come out and interview the vice president the following morning at 8 a.m., and that indeed did happen," Zahren said.

    Gilbert San Miguel, chief deputy sheriff for Kenedy County, said the report had not been completed Monday and that it was being handled as a hunting accident.

    He said his department's investigation had found that alcohol was not a factor in the shooting, but he would not elaborate how that had been determined. The Texas Parks and Wildlife hunting accident report also said neither Cheney nor Whittington appeared to be under the influence of intoxicants or drugs.

    Armstrong said the accident occurred as Whittington was retrieving a bird he had shot in the tall grasses on her property.

    Cheney and another hunter, Pamela Willeford, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, moved on to another covey of quail - Armstrong estimated it was roughly 100-150 yards away - and Cheney fired on a bird just as Whittington rejoined them. She said Whittington was in tall grass and thick brush about 30 yards away, which made it difficult for Cheney to see him, although both men were wearing bright-orange safety vests.
    To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

  • #2
    Anybody want to post a fourth, separate thread on this single incident?
    "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

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    • #3
      Originally posted by shek
      Anybody want to post a fourth, separate thread on this single incident?
      I will. :)

      Comment


      • #4
        Man Shot by Cheney Back in Intensive Care
        Whittington Suffers 'Silent Heart Attack' From Pellet
        By LYNN BREZOSKY and NEDRA PICKLER, AP

        CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (Feb. 14) - The 78-year-old lawyer wounded by Vice President Dick Cheney in a hunting accident suffered a mild heart attack Tuesday after a shotgun pellet in his chest traveled to his heart, hospital officials said.

        Harry Whittington was immediately moved back to an intensive care unit and will be watched for a week to make sure more of the metal pellets do not move to other vital organs. He was reported in stable condition.

        Whittington suffered a "silent heart attack" - obstructed blood flow, but without the classic heart-attack symptoms of pain and pressure, according to doctors at Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial.

        The doctors said they decided to treat the situation conservatively and leave the pellet alone rather than operate to remove it. They said they are highly optimistic Whittington will recover and live a healthy life with the pellet left in place.

        Asked whether the pellet could move farther into his heart and become fatal, hospital officials said that was a hypothetical question they could not answer.

        Hospital officials said they were not concerned about the six to 200 other pieces of birdshot that might still be lodged in Whittington's body. Cheney was using 71/2 shot from a 28-gauge shotgun. Shotgun pellets are typically made of steel or lead; the pellets in 71/2 shot are just under a tenth of an inch in diameter.

        Cheney watched the news conference where doctors described Whittington's complications. Then the vice president called him, wished him well and asked if there was anything that he needed.

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

        Cheney , an experienced hunter, has not spoken publicly about the accident, which took place Saturday night while the vice president was aiming for a quail. Critics of the Bush administration called for more answers from the Cheney himself.

        Whittington has said through hospital officials that he does not want to commenv on the shooting. A young man at Whittington's Austin home who identified himself as his grandson said Tuesday he did not have time to talk to a reporter and closed the door.

        The furor over the accident and the White House delay in making it public are "part of the secretive nature of this administration," said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "I think it's time the American people heard from the"vice president."

        Before hospital officials announced details of Whittington's condition, the hunting accident had produced a raft of Cheney jokes on late-night television.

        "I think Cheney is starting to lose it," Jay Leno said. "After he shot the guy he screamed, `Anyone else want to call domestic wiretapping illegal?!"'

        On Tuesday morning, the White House spokesman briefly joined in the merriment, joking that the orange school colors of the visiting University of Texas championship football team should not be confused for hunters' safety gear.

        "The orange that they're wearing is nov because they're concerned that the vice president may be there," press secretary Scott McClellan said. "That's why I'm wearing it."

        Hospital officials said they knew that Whittington had some birdshot near his heart and that there was a chance it could move closer since scar tissue had not had time to harden and hold the pellet in place.

        After Whittington developed an irregular heartbeat, doctors performed a cardiac catheterization, in which a thin, flexible tube is inserted into the heart, to diagnose his condition, said Peter Banko, the administrator at the hospital.

        The shot was either touching or embedded in the heart muscle near the top chambers, called the atria, officials said. Two things resulted:

        -It caused inflammation that pushed on the heart in a way to temporarily block blood flow, what the doctors called a "silent heart attack." This is not a traditional heart attack where an artery is blocked. They said Whittington's arteries, in fact, were healthy.

        -It irritated the atria, caused an irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation, which is not immediately life-threatening. But it must be treated because it can spur blood clots to form. Most cases can be corrected with medication.

        White House physicians helped advise on the course of treatment, hospital officials said.

        Texas officials said the shooting was an accident and no charges were brought against the vice president.

        A Texas Parks and Wildlife Department report issued Monday said Whittington was retrieving a downed bird and stepped out of the hunting line he was sharing with Cheney . "Another covey was flushed and Cheney swung on a bird and fired, striking Whittington in the face, neck and chest at approximately 30 yards," the report said.

        Associated Press Writer Nedra Pickler contributed to this report from Washington.


        APTV 02-14-06 1905EST
        To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

        Comment


        • #5
          Pellets Likely to Remain in Shooting Victim
          By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
          AP
          WASHINGTON (Feb. 14) - Despite the heart problem of the man wounded by Vice President Dick Cheney, doctors say removing the shotgun pellet from his chest probably won't be necessary - and digging it out could do more harm than good.


          It's not unusual to live with shrapnel or other foreign objects in the body, even the heart, and specialists said it's likely the pellet will scar over rapidly without causing further problems for Texas lawyer Harry Whittington.


          Hospital officials in Corpus Christi announced Tuesday that Whittington had suffered a "minor heart attack" and was returned to the intensive care unit.


          It wasn't a traditional heart attack - no artery was blocked. In fact, the 78-year-old Whittington's doctors called his arteries healthy, and he felt no pain or other symptoms.


          What apparently happened: Doctors noticed an irregular heartbeat Tuesday morning and took Whittington in for an exam called a cardiac catheterization, threading a wire up from the groin to see an image of exactly what was going on inside his heart.


          One of the pellets from the 28-guage shotgun that Cheney had fired had migrated to the heart, either touching or embedding into the heart muscle near its top chambers, called the atria. That irritated those chambers to cause the irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation.


          But doctors also spotted inflammation - which always occurs when something foreign invades the body - that was causing a temporary block in blood flow, by touching or pushing the heart, explained Dr. David Blanchard, chief of emergency care at Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial.


          That's what he termed a "silent heart attack."


          A pellet striking the heart can cause those problems, but it's not normally thought of as a heart attack, said Dr. Samin Sharma, chief of interventional cardiology at New York's Mt. Sinai Medical Center.


          "What probably happened is the pellet hit the heart and the heart released some enzymes" associated with a heart attack, he said. "It usually has a very good prognosis. ... It's not as significant as a heart attack."


          Anti-inflammatory drugs will soothe the inflammation, and the pellet should scar over in time, he said.


          Digging it out could cause more damage, specialists agreed.


          Removal probably would be necessary only if the pellet had penetrated a heart chamber, something Whittington's doctors said didn't happen, added Dr. Soumitra Eachempati, a trauma surgeon at New York Presbyterian/Weil Cornell Hospital.


          As for the atrial fibrillation, it's not immediately dangerous but must be treated because if left uncontrolled, it can spur blood clots. Most cases can be corrected with medication. Hospital officials didn't say Tuesday whether Whittington's heart was beating normally again, or if he was being medicated.


          Until Tuesday's complications, physicians had said Whittington had been progressing well after being struck by birdshot in Saturday's hunting incident - and that they were not concerned about the six to 200 pieces of birdshot that might still be lodged in his body.


          Whittington was about 30 yards away from Cheney when shot.


          "At this distance he's peppered with lot of small holes," said Dr. J. Wayne Meredith of the Wake Forest School of Medicine, who has seen similar injuries.


          A report filed with Texas Parks and Wildlife said the vice president was using size 7 1/2 shot. A three-quarter ounce load of that size shot would normally contain more than 250 pellets. Each pellet is about the size of a small letter "o" in newspaper print.


          Birdshot is usually made with steel or lead, but even lead pellets left in the body wouldn't pose a danger of lead poisoning, said Dr. Renae Stafford, a trauma surgeon at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, School of Medicine.


          "People speak of lead poisoning, but in reality it's not something we see," agreed Dr. Maurizio A. Miglietta of the New York University School of Medicine.


          AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.
          To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

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          • #6
            I haven't heard of this type of incident in some time. I should probably pay more attention in class.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by FutureMD
              I haven't heard of this type of incident in some time. I should probably pay more attention in class.

              This type of accident happens all the time. Why, just the other day I was hunting down near 33rd and Broadway..........

              Hi!, and a hearty welcome FutureMD

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