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CNN Live At Daybreak
Vice President Cheney Returns to Work After Implant
Aired July 02, 2001 - 08:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Vice President Dick Cheney joins other Americans back on the job this morning, many of them for a holiday-shortened work week. Two days ago, doctors implanted a device in Cheney's chest to correct irregular heartbeats. The vice president spent yesterday relaxing at home with his family. A spokeswoman said he is "feeling great."
CNN's Major Garrett is at the White House, where the vice president has already reported in for the day -- Major.
MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Colleen.
Yes, the vice president arrived here at the White House about 15 minutes ago. He entered into security briefings with the president of the United States. That's typical for a Monday, or any given day, here at the White House.
From that, he will conduct three talk-radio interviews, to promote the president's energy plan. And that is the sum total of his announced schedule of the day -- a few more meetings with other administration officials, and then home at the end of the work day. No public events are outside the White House campus today.
Of course, the vice president on Saturday had a defibrillator installed in the left part of his chest, right about here. That is a mechanism designed not only to monitor his heart rate, but to speed it up if it's beating too slowly and to slow it down if it's beating too fast. The vice president calls it an insurance policy, and doctors said they really don't anticipate that defibrillator ever actually being used, but they wanted it to be there just in case -- Colleen.
MCEDWARDS: Major, I've got a question for you. I can't take credit for this one. The credit for this goes to one of our viewers, who wrote in by e-mail. It's an interesting question. Carl Loflin (ph) says that he hears that this type of surgery is not covered by HMOs, that it would be considered elective surgery, and wonders whether, under the new patients' bill of rights, could Cheney sue his HMO to recover the costs of this very expensive procedure?
GARRETT: Well, that's kind of a loaded question. There are a couple of different issues here. Of course, the vice president is covered under the federal health insurance program. It's not a typical HMO, so that question wouldn't arise in his case. And on the larger question, of any American involved in an HMO, the question about suing them is not really about denied coverage that you seek. It's about denied coverage that actually harms you. In the Senate bill, the language is "irreparable harm or death." That's what gives you standing to file a suit in state or federal court. So you actually have to have some requested or prescribed medical service denied, and then, as a result of that denial, be harmed. And that gives you standing to go in court. That's the whole issue about suing HMOs: if, in fact, service is denied -- Colleen.
MCEDWARDS: All right, Major, thanks for that clarification -- appreciate it.
Let's get a little bit more now on this actual device. We've already heard that it's about the size of a cell phone, it's implanted in the chest, sort of right below the collarbone, in that area.
Rea Blakey joins us now to tell us more about this -- Rea.
REA BLAKEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Colleen. I have one right here. Vice President Dick Cheney is now sporting a new Medtronic Gem III DR, just like this one. Cardiologists say it's 99 percent effective in preventing further arrhythmia.
CNN talked to one man who says it changed his life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REA BLAKEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paul Lebowitz has had eight heart attacks and in 1994 got his first implantable defibrillator. In April of this year, he got a new device implanted. It's a type of defibrillator that works two ways, to shock an irregular beating heart back to normal rhythm or as a pacemaker to speed up a slowly beating heart. Leahy says this so-called pacemaker plus lets him live on borrowed time.
PAUL LEBOWITZ, HEART PATIENT: I can do the stairs with no fear of collapsing. I don't run up them or down them, but I can do them.
BLAKEY: It's the same type of device Vice President Cheney had implanted on Saturday.
DR. JONATHAN REINER, GWU HOSPITAL: In day-to-day life, patients with this device really face essentially, you know, no restrictions and really essentially no environmental hazards. Patients with these devices can use cell phones. That's not really an issue. They can go through airport security.
BLAKEY: It's important to note the implanted defibrillator doesn't necessarily prevent future heart attacks. Cheney has had four already. Lebowitz had several after his first defibrillator.
LEBOWITZ: It would not cure anything, but it would increase the quality of my life.
BLAKEY: And it has changed his lifestyle just a little. LEBOWITZ: Or as my wife says I'm not dancing anymore. Of course I never did. But it's fine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLAKEY: Doctors at George Washington University Hospital say it's very likely the vice president will notice if and when the defibrillator regulates any arrhythmias. The doctors describe the sensation as a pop -- Colleen.
MCEDWARDS: I'm just a lay person, so what do I know, but it looks big to me, Rea. Would a patient be able to feel it there in their chest?
BLAKEY: It really depends on the patient's anatomy. For some patients who have less body tissue, it is a little more prominent in the chest area. However, we don't really know what the vice president is feeling at this time.
We are told, however, that he has normal blood pressure, that his LDL is down to 72. He's lost 25 pounds. He diets. He exercises. He seems to be in good shape, and his cardiologists are, in fact, confirming that.
MCEDWARDS: All right, Rea Blakey, thanks very much.
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