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Clinton Has Successful Quadruple Bypass
NEW YORK (AP) - Bill Clinton had a successful quadruple heart bypass operation Monday to relieve severely clogged arteries that doctors said had put the former president in grave danger of a major heart attack sometime soon. Clinton is expected to make a full recovery, but doctors said he was fortunate to have checked himself into the hospital when he did. The heart disease they repaired was extensive, and blockage in several of Clinton's arteries was "well over 90 percent," said Dr. Craig R. Smith, the surgeon who led the operation. "There was a substantial likelihood that he would have had a substantial heart attack," said Dr. Allan Schwartz, chief of cardiology at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia. The four-hour surgery came three days after Clinton arrived at the hospital complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath. But doctors said Clinton's problems were not as sudden as had been portrayed. He had suffered shortness of breath and tightness in his chest for several months, blaming them on off-and-on exercising and acid reflux, his doctors said.

In addition, the former president had high blood pressure and may not have been adequately treated for high cholesterol.
[mount medical soapbox]
This pisses me off. Here's a man with what should be the best healthcare in the world, and neither he nor his docs knew that he was within a few weeks of a big-time MI. Run the risk profile, people: middle-aged white male with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, poor diet, stress and bad genetics -- the risk of his ending up like this (using the algorithms one uses to calculate this) is over 70%. Where the hell were the docs? This man should have been diagnosed and had an intervention a good two years ago, at least. While president he should have had an exercise stress test every 2 - 3 years and concerted control of his risk factors.
[dismount soapbox]
"He is recovering normally at this point. Right now everything looks straightforward," Smith said. Still, Dr. W. Randolph Chitwood, chief cardiovascular surgeon at East Carolina University and a spokesman for the American College of Cardiology, agreed with Clinton's doctors that the president had been in a dangerous state leading up to the operation. "Within the next couple of weeks, something was going to happen," he said.
Posted by: Steve White 2004-09-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=42568