The Truth Is Out There. Somewhere.



The news accounts claim that Dick Cheney was found to be in atrial fibrillation in the morning, and was shocked back into a normal rhythm in the evening:

Doctors administered an electrical shock to Vice President Dick Cheney's heart and restored it to a normal rhythm during a 2 1/2 hour hospital visit Monday. The procedure was described as a low-risk, standard practice. Cheney, 66, went home from George Washington University Hospital and was expected back at work on Tuesday.

Cheney, who has a history of heart problems, was discovered to have an irregular heartbeat around 7 a.m. when he was seen by doctors at the White House for a lingering cough from a cold. He remained at work throughout the day, joining President Bush in meetings with Mideast leaders.

Problem is, this is at variance with standard procedures. When a person is in atrial fibrillation, they may form clots in their heart, which could travel and cause a stroke when cardioverted (shocked back into normal rhythm). The standard practice is to give such a patient blood thinners, anticoagulants, for a month before doing the cardioversion.

So, there is something here we are not being told. Perhaps Cheney really had the onset of his atrial fibrillation a month ago and kept that secret, but couldn't keep the hospitalization for the procedure secret. Perhaps he was much more compromised by the abnormal rhythm than they are saying. Perhaps he was already fully anticoagulated. There is more to this story than we are being told.

Posted: Tue - November 27, 2007 at 08:03 AM        

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