Cheney acknowledges he may have to elect a heart transplant, says technology better now

[azurnoir]

Source: strib

Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he believes he'll have to make a decision on whether to have a heart transplant given his medical history.

Cheney tells NBC in an interview that he's getting by now on a battery-powered heart pump, which makes it "awkward to walk around." He also says he hasn't made a decision yet on a transplant, but adds that "the technology is getting better and better."

Cheney tells the network in an interview, "I'll have to make a decision at some point whether I want to go for a transplant."

On another matter, Cheney complimented President Barack Obama on his handling of the Tucson shooting rampage. Cheney says, "I'm not an Obama supporter by nature, but I thought it was one of his better efforts."

Cheney, 69, suffered a heart attack last year, his fifth since the age of 37. He had bypass surgery in 1988, as well as two subsequent angioplasties to clear narrowed coronary arteries.


Read more: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/114104469.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUvckD8EQDUI

[formercia]

1. To think the heart he gets

might save a Human Being instead of him.

[no limit]

2. As I read this thread I think to myself...

I wonder if the amount of vile that will be directed toward wishing death on Cheney in this thread would strike anyone as just a little ironic considering what happened to Rep. Giffords.

I doubt it.

[Demeter]

4. That made no sense

You think a war criminal should get a taxpayer-paid heart transplant, and that a mild-mannered Congresswoman is his equivalent?

[no limit]

8. Is Obama not a war criminal? So I guess you think he shouldn't get tax money for healthcare

And who is paying for Giffords treatment, not the tax payers?

Again, you people have no sense of irony or hypocrisy.

[Demeter]

16. Workers Comp or its moral equivalent applies to Giffords--work related injury

Cheney Cheney'd himself with his "lifestyle choices", good enough reason to scorn his application for extraordinary measures, by all GOP health care deserving standards...

[no limit]

18. can you show me the workmans comp application Gifford's family had to fill out?

You are so full of shit it's not even remotely funny.

[Demeter]

21. Do you understand the meaning of "moral equivalent"?

Have fun on IGNORE

[no limit]

23. Ahh, so you have no workments comp application, instead you elect to put me on ignore

stay classy.

[crikkett]

52. I do too.

Hope you learn something in this lifetime.

[alphafemale]

50. "you people"

Really?

What does that make you>

[crikkett]

51. it made sense to me: wishing death on someone is wishing death on someone

and people who wish death on Cheney have no standing to complain about people who wish death on anyone else, including Rep. Giffords.

[atreides1]

17. I'm more interested in the medical side

Is he really a viable candidate for a heart transplant?

He has a history of heart problems, and there is more involved with someone of his age.

Also, what is his overall physical and mental health? What about rejection?

[no limit]

19. All good questions. I don't know the answers

but I don't think he should be treated any different from any one else. If they decide he is eligable for a heart transplant and if put on a wait list accordingly then so be it, I have no problem with that. But many people here seem to.

[peace13]

20. I think the fact that Cheney's party is denying AZ's the chance at life

when they are in the exact same position is what is upsetting people here. Cheney is just flaunting the fact that if he chooses, the People will pay for him to get a new heart. I think that is the only reason he states it here. He knows that we will get our panties in a bunch about it. It has nothing to do with a shooter taking innocent lives. It has to do with a thieving, greedy, selfish *asturd doing what ever he wants when he wants to and flaunting it in our faces. He has all of the rights and the people have none. That is the story here.

[no limit]

22. Do you have any evidance behind the claim that Cheney will get special treatment?

Who will be responsible for that special treatment?

[peace13]

24. Hello! Do you listen to the news at all?

Are you aware that Arizona has refused to pay for transplants for their resident? If Cheney gets a transplant at all it will be on the backs of those who have already died in AZ because of the actions of the Republican Governor. Cheney has worked for the government his entire life. He will be covered by our Socialized medicine plan. If he chooses to pay for it himself it does not change the fact that he could have the procedure under the plan if he so desired.

[no limit]

28. The transplants are being denied in AZ because of an extremely immoral policy affecting medicaid

Cheney is not on medicaid. His transplant has absolutely nothing to do with medicaid. So what is your point?

[oldhippydude]

37. yes

brewers policy is best defined as "janacide"

[marasinghe]

43. what is ironic to me is ....

this murdering bloodsucker trolling for a heart transplant - to keep his disgusting life going - while around a million innocent Iraqi children, women & men, whose deaths he caused directly, lie decaying in the dust.

[earthside]

3. Typical Right-Wing News Media

Their bias is showing.

The appropriate word in Cheney's case is "implant".

[Burma Jones]

5. All I would say about this is that I hope the rules governing waiting lists

are as scrupulously followed in Cheney's case as they would be with any other citizen.

That is all.

[monmouth]

7. Was just going to write that. How many hundreds of people who have

been waiting, maybe thousands, I don't know, would he jump in front of? SOB might not make it through the anesthesia...

[no limit]

9. Do you guys have any proof he would be put ahead of anyone else

if there are wait lists?

[monmouth]

14. Not at my immediate disposal, however this is Cheeeeeney...n/t

[enuegii]

25. From the Texas Heart Institute:

The demand for donor hearts is greater than the supply. At any given time, about 3,000 patients are on the national patient waiting list for a heart transplant, but only about 2,200 donor hearts become available for transplantation each year. In the United States, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) determines priority for a heart transplant by grouping patients by the severity of their heart condition. This grouping lets those who need a transplant most be considered first. The groupings are as follows:

* Status 1A – includes very ill patients who need constant inotropic medicines or mechanical assistance (left ventricular assist devices); these patients are expected to live less than one month without a transplant.
* Status 1B – includes medically stable patients who need constant inotropic medicines or mechanical assistance (left ventricular assist devices); these patients are expected to live more than one month without a transplant.
* Status 2 – All patients who do not meet the above standards.

So, yes, there is a waiting list. Given Cheney's condition, it would seem that he would be assigned Status 1B or possibly 1A.

Texas Heart Institute web page

[Thav]

13. And if the surgery is "elective"

Then insurance wouldn't cover it in the first place.

[du_grad]

47. Not necessarily...

Depends on Cheney's insurance. Medicare will be primary and whatever he has a secondary will make or break the insurance end. However, he has plenty of money to pay for one outright (or perhaps he's self-insured).

I'm not sure how the waiting list thing actually works. I think if you decide to go for a transplant they do studies to determine if you are a candidate. This probably depends on age, availability, pre-existing conditions, etc. Again, I work in the medical field but not this part of it.

A friend of mine is a tech doing tissue typing at a major medical center. Assuming there is a heart available, there has to be a match with the tissue. You can't just transplant any heart into any body. For a heart to be transplanted you also have to have a donor who probably died quickly of some type of head injury.

According to this site, the age cap on a heart transplant is 70 years of age. He'd better not dilly-dally...

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2006/09_15a_06.html
http://www.ishlt.org/publications/guidelines.asp

[Myrina]

6. NO SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE ...

um ... errr ... uhhh ... Dick?
Can I get my contribution to your health care back, please? I have some unpaid medical bills of my own I could used that money for ...

[Kingofalldems]

10. Translation: The fix is already in--he's getting one

[Enthusiast]

11. Don't bother Dick!

Don't waste that heart a younger more deserving candidate could use.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

15. No doubt about it.

[russspeakeasy]

12. I think I have a heart for him. It came from a chicken and has

been in my freezer for a couple of years. 

[Solly Mack]

26. Fucking piece of filth.

[montanto]

27. "Implant" he means. Sheesh.

[Hulk]

29. I would hope and pray we don't waste a perfectly good heart on this spawn of Satan

I can't think of a human being in this country LESS DESERVING of a heart transplant, than this evil, sick bastard.

[tomm2thumbs]

34. maybe he and Liz can swap hearts

she's stone cold so she really won't need one that pumps too much anyway

just a little trickle to keep those lips of hers yapping away on FoxNews

[PatSeg]

30. I won't wish ill on any person

It tends to bounce back at you, but I do hope that Mr. Cheney gets exactly what he deserves.

I saw a clip of him this morning. Weak and frail, he was still defending "enhanced interrogation" techniques. Evidently he has no regrets.

[skip fox]

31. The language presumes he had one to begin with.

[truth2power]

32. "awkward to walk around"...Talk about high irony...

I would imagine all those people he's responsible for killing would know something about it being awkward to walk around, them being dead and all.


Sheesh!! x(

[tomm2thumbs]

33. they should start with the brain - that should be first since he lacks one entirely

then give him a heart-shaped clock like the Wizard gave the Tin Man - it's more than he deserves

[Mnemosyne]

35. Bob Casey, Sr. n/t

[TroglodyteScholar]

36. Why is a transplant even being discussed as a realistic option?

Aren't patients usually at the mercy of a hospital transplant board that rules on wheter the patient represents too high of a risk? Is all this speculation a tacit acknowledgement that the super-rich don't HAVE to live up to the same standards as the rest of us before they can take a donor's heart?

[urgk]

38. Technically, I think it's "implant." Transplant means there's one to replace. n/t

Edited to add note - Aw, Montanto beat me to it. Didn't see his/hers before I posted. :)

[jojog]

39. Good thing he has Single-Payer Gov't provided insurance nt

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

40. but he's a robot! n/t

[tabasco]

41. How is this POS going to get to the top of the list?

OH YEAH - same way AWOL Bush moved to the top of the list to get in the Air Guard when the waiting list was a MILE LONG.

[forty6]

45. Probably true. Of course, we will never know. It's also possible that

No human heart will be found to transplant into that "man". Actually, that's more likely than not.

Frankly I don't think the heart he gets will give him any more insight into his dark world. I think insight is from the brain, and the heart is just a metaphor for kindness, caring and love. No real human heart will give him any of that.

[Evasporque]

42. Note to self: Change organ donor info in living will.....

KEEP MY HEART OUT OF DICK CHENEY.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

44. GIVING HIM A HEART IS LIKE FEEDING GHOULS

[unblock]

46. but heartless has been working so well for him.

:shrug:

[tavalon]

48. Cheney has a heart?

Isn't that a pre-req for getting another heart. You have to trade in the old one. I've never seen any proof that he has a heart.

[Thor_MN]

49. While I won't rescind my donor status

I hope that if I should get into an accident, my heart would have the good sense to reject him.

Seriously, what donor board could justify wasting a perfectly good heart on that POS?