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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Vice President Dick Cheney to Undergo Another Heart Procedure

Aired June 29, 2001 - 20:00   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.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Tonight, it was a surprise announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going to undergo a test tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Word that Vice President Dick Cheney's heart is causing concern again. He may need a new device for his heart. I'll speak with Georgetown University cardiologist Dr. David Pearle about the procedure.

It's a family tragedy that has gripped a nation. Andrea Yates is accused of drowning her five children. Tonight, I'll speak to her brothers, Andrew and Patrick Kennedy, about their sister and the impact this crime is having on their family.

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting tonight from Washington.

Vice President Dick Cheney had a surprise announcement today. He revealed he's checking into George Washington University hospital tomorrow morning. Recent tests, he says, have shown an irregular heart rhythm. Normally, that would not be all that unusual. But given his almost 25-year history of heart attacks, doctors don't want to take any chances, and that's our top story.

CNN White House correspondent Major Garrett joins us now live from the White House with more -- Major.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the vice president and his wife Lynn made the decision for him to go to the hospital on Saturday just last night. And right after that decision was made, top White House advisers decided how they would manage the story, and they decided the best person to break this news to the country was the vice president himself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHENEY: It is called an electrophysiology study, and it is specifically performed for the purpose of determining the prospective risk for me going forward in terms of abnormal heart rhythms. GARRETT (voice-over): Abnormal heart rhythms again. Doctors detected them two weeks ago, short flutters that Mr. Cheney says he can't even feel.

CHENEY: I'm oblivious to these incidents when they occur, and they only last one or two seconds. It's just a short period of time when there's a rapid heartbeat, and then it stops.

GARRETT: But intervention is required, just as it was in March, when doctors inserted a stent to enlarge a clogged artery. After Saturday's heart test, doctors will decide whether to implant a defibrillator, a device that will detect a rapid heartbeat and electronically slow it down. Mr. Cheney, 60, has already suffered four heart attacks.

CHENEY: I look on this as an insurance policy. It may never actually be needed, but if it is, then it's obviously the right thing to do to have it implanted.

GARRETT: The vice president will have to be sedated during the outpatient procedure. Still, he hopes to be back to work on Monday, but will heed his doctors' advice about how soon to return to a full schedule.

CHENEY: The doctors have assured me there's no reason why either the procedure or the device that's being implanted should in any way inhibit my capacity to function as the vice president.

GARRETT: Mr. Cheney maintains a heavy workload, heading up task forces on energy, domestic terrorism and global warming. And he's a huge player on defense and international policy as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GARRETT: The vice president says President Bush urged him to take all necessary precautions, and one precaution he took was to announce the news himself, a move he said was designed to minimize media speculation and a feeding frenzy -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Major, how worried are they behind the scenes over there at the White House?

GARRETT: Wolf, there are two concerns. One, vice president's office announced this afternoon that his arrhythmia, his abnormal heart rhythms, is ventricle in origin -- that's potentially serious, but I will leave it to a heart specialist to explain exactly why.

The second concern: the vice president remains a sufferer of chronic coronary artery disease, and tomorrow's procedures will not change that. On the upside, White House advisers say the vice president has changed his habits. He exercises regularly, changed his diet and since the election has lost 25 pounds. What's more, they say, he receives top flight care constantly, and the combination of that good care and his changed habits they say augurs well for the future -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Major Garrett at the White House, thank you very much.

Joining me now to discuss the vice president's condition, Dr. David Pearle of Georgetown University Medical Center, where he's director of the coronary care unit. He's in Boston tonight.

Dr. Pearle, thanks once again for joining us. And let me get right to the question: how serious is this latest development?

DR. DAVID PEARLE, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Well, this is potentially a serious problem. Anyone with coronary artery disease and a weakened heart muscle is at risk of developing these irregular heart rhythms that can be potentially fatal. And the test the vice president has had so far is a warning signal. The test that will be done tomorrow morning is more definitive as to whether he will need the defibrillator.

BLITZER: Well, his doctors assume he will need one. Would that be something you would recommend to someone of his age? The stress factors, the heart condition, the history that he has?

PEARLE: What we try to do is assess how great the risk of somebody having a potentially fatal arrhythmia is. The test tomorrow is the definitive one, but it sounds like, even based on the warning test, they have almost made the decision to put in the defibrillator, and certainly I would recommend it. It is a kind of a precaution so should one of these very dangerous, potentially fatal arrhythmias develop, the device, which is implanted under the skin, can potentially treat it, either by pacing or delivering a shock.

BLITZER: Dr. Pearle, how risky is the actual procedure of implanting this defibrillator into his upper chest?

PEARLE: The risk of the procedure is very, very small. The device is about three inches in diameter. It fits under the skin, under the clavicle, but outside the rib cage, and then there are wires that lead into the heart. But placing the device itself carries very little risk. The worry is the underlying condition that it is being used to treat.

BLITZER: Vice President Cheney says he could be back at work as early as Monday. If he were your patient, would you want him back at work that quickly after this procedure?

PEARLE: Well, I usually recommend that patients take a few more days than that. Among other things, his arm and upper body will be a little bit stiff and sore. Certainly if someone needs to talk to him as early as Saturday night, assuming this goes on tomorrow, he would be available. I usually recommend patients take a little more time than that away from work, though.

BLITZER: The fact that he is in such a high-stress job, is that something of concern? Should he step back a little bit and ease some of the pressures on him?

PEARLE: It seems kind of common sense that high stress and adrenaline would potentially trigger some of these arrhythmias, but actually the data on it are not real strong, and such data, as there are, would suggest the real problem is when you are under a lot of stress that is outside your control -- you are working very hard, you don't want to do it, somebody is making you do it. Other people who enjoy their work, I think it is perfectly reasonable they continue doing what they love to do.

BLITZER: Dr. Pearle, thanks once again for joining us tonight. Appreciate it very much.

And just minutes ago, the Democratic-led Senate passed sweeping patients' rights legislation designed to give Americans broader rights when it comes to their health care. It would also give patients the ability to sue their HMOs, this despite the threat of a presidential veto and following several attempts by Republicans to change the bill. The final vote tonight: 59-36.

The bill now heads to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where the GOP leadership is hoping to rework it to restrict lawsuits.

This week in Texas, a father buried his five children while their mother remained in jail, charged with their murders. Police say Andrea Yates told them she drowned her four sons and only daughter in a bathtub of their suburban Houston home last week. Russell Yates says his wife suffers from postpartum depression. It's an unimaginable tragedy. How does a family even begin to cope?

Joining us now from Houston: Andrew Kennedy, he is a brother of Andrea Yates, and in Long Beach, California, Patrick Kennedy, he is another brother. And thank you so much for joining us.

First of all to you, Patrick. I know that you spent some time with your sister Andrea in jail. How is she -- how is she feeling, how is she doing right now from what you could sense?

PATRICK KENNEDY, BROTHER OF ANDREA YATES: Well, when I visited her on -- I believe it was Thursday or Friday, she is basically in a catatonic state right now. She doesn't respond to anything we say to her. She is basically a shell of the person I knew before this happened.

BLITZER: She -- when you asked her questions, she was just staring at you in a blank, is that what you are saying?

P. KENNEDY: That's correct. It's like her eyes were open, but she is like 1,000 miles away. She looked at me, but there was just basically no response from her.

BLITZER: So you really get no sense that she can comprehend the enormity, the tragedy, what has happened?

P. KENNEDY: I can't I honestly say that, Wolf, because I don't know what's going on in her mind right now. All I know is she stares and she heard what we had to say, and I don't know what she has to -- what she is comprehending of that. BLITZER: Andrew, as you look back on this sequence of events that has unfolded, looking back on warning signs, were there real serious warning signs that everyone should have paid much more -- much closer attention to?

ANDREW KENNEDY, BROTHER OF ANDREA YATES: Oh, are you asking if there were warning signs -- that what?

BLITZER: Were there warning signs that everyone should have been paying much greater attention to?

A. KENNEDY: I think, you know, we did what we could. You know, we saw her getting despondent, and she had been -- had, you know, robot looks for a long time, but you know, she was treated as best we knew how.

BLITZER: Your sister, Michelle Freeman, has suggested in an interview that there was history, there were some other problems that -- not only with Andrea, but there was a history of depression in the family. What was she referring to?

A. KENNEDY: Well, I've had problems with depression and so has Michelle.

BLITZER: But you've been, obviously, being treated with that, and Michelle has been treated with that as well.

A. KENNEDY: Uh-huh. Correct.

BLITZER: Did you ever get a sense -- I know that there were reports that she had one suicide attempt. Today we're hearing of a second suicide attempt before the birth of her last child, the little girl, Mary. Tell us about what you know about those suicide attempts.

A. KENNEDY: The first or second?

BLITZER: Either -- both of them. Start with first.

A. KENNEDY: Well, the first one, she was at my father's house and she took some sleeping pills from my father, and my mother was there at the time. The second attempt also happened in my parents' house, and she put a knife to her throat in the bathroom.

BLITZER: Patrick, when were those attempts -- were they recently -- how many years ago, if they were years, did they occur?

P. KENNEDY: Approximately a year and half ago, from what I remember. It was right after the birth of her first -- pardon?

BLITZER: Were they both about a year and a half ago?

P. KENNEDY: Yes, it was -- I remember. I was here in California and I recall, I believe it was my mother had called me and told me she tried to kill herself, you know, by the overdose. And she also told me about an incident with the knife in the bathroom. And, yes, it was about a year and half ago, I would say. BLITZER: What did she tell you about the incident with the knife in the bathroom?

P. KENNEDY: Um, actually, she -- actually, my other brother told me about this. He tried to approach her and she basically was very standoffish and held the knife to her throat, telling him not to come any closer or else she would kill herself. That's the best I can recollect of that. And then, you know, she was put back into a mental institute for treatment right after that.

BLITZER: I want to take a quick break, but, Andrew, even though she had those two suicide attempts, she then went ahead and had Mary, the youngest, the six-month-old child. Was there ever any question in anyone's mind -- was this appropriate to go forward and have another child, given her mental state at that time?

A. KENNEDY: I'm not sure, you know, if it was appropriate or not, if she was not on medication when she had Mary or not. I really don't know.

BLITZER: No one discussed that with you at the time?

A. KENNEDY: I'm sorry?

BLITZER: I said no one at the time raised any questions about having Mary after the suicide attempts, after the depression was diagnosed, after her mental state was as we now know it was?

A. KENNEDY: Yes, I mean, there was times, Rusty told me, where she was better at the house. I mean, Andrea sometimes was functional, and sometimes she wasn't, so...

BLITZER: Did you want to add something on that, Patrick?

P. KENNEDY: Yes, I believe there was some concern about, you know, the frequency of her having children, but our family kind of let her make her own decisions. I mean, she had a husband and she -- I don't recall her ever complaining about anything in her marriage, or her childbearing activities, so, you know, I guess at that point we were just, you know, trusting in Rusty and the treatment that she had received up until that point.

BLITZER: All right, gentlemen. We have to take a quick break. When we come back, I'll ask Andrew and Patrick Kennedy about their brother-in-law, Rusty Yates, and we'll also talk about those five little children. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. We're continuing our discussion with the family of Andrea Yates. From Houston, we're joined by Andrea's brother Andrew Kennedy. And in Long Beach, California, another brother, Patrick Kennedy.

Patrick, tell us about your brother-in-law, Rusty Yates.

P. KENNEDY: I'm sorry. What was the question?

BLITZER: Tell us about your brother-in-law, Russell Yates. He seems so composed, so poised in the face of this horrible tragedy that he of course has suffered through. You obviously know him. You know him well, tell us about this man.

P. KENNEDY: Actually, Wolf, I really don't know Russell that well. He came out to California with Andrea, I'd say probably between eight and 10 years ago, and I saw them for a day then. But most of my communication with Andrea and her family was over the phone. And it was always with her, it was her and I talking on the phone, so I really don't know Russell that well, to be -- I mean Rusty that well, to be honest with you.

BLITZER: But from what you heard from Andrea, did they appear to have a very good marriage?

P. KENNEDY: She never discussed her marriage with me one way or the other.

BLITZER: What about you, Andrew? Did you get a sense that this was -- other than the depression, the suicide attempts, that as far as the marriage was concerned, based on what she told you or what you knew -- that it was a good, solid marriage?

A. KENNEDY: Yes, it appeared to be a good, solid marriage. Rusty was -- and Andrea were private people and they didn't speak much about how they felt about, you know, a lot of matters.

BLITZER: The reason I asked, because in the current issue of "Newsweek" magazine, your other brother Brian is quoted in there, and I just want to get that quote out from what he says. He was asked about Russell Yates. He said: "You should ask our lawyer that question. I'd like to say some things be the truth will eventually come out."

I was confused by that, and I wonder if there's anything either one of you, let's begin with you, Patrick. Do you have anything to say about what Brian said in that interview in "Newsweek" magazine?

P. KENNEDY: No, I can't speak for any comments he might have made. I really can't.

BLITZER: What about you, Andrew? Did you want to elaborate on what Brian may have been referring to?

A. KENNEDY: I think the comment was something spoken in anger. He was very close to Andrea and her children and he spent a lot of time with them, and I think it was just an angry moment. The kids spent a lot of time at my mom's house and my brother was living there, and so it was a tragic loss for him, too.

BLITZER: Patrick, the other tragedy that a lot of people speculate could have contributed to what happened was the tragic death of your dad, and Andrea was very close to your father. Tell us about her relationship with your father. P. KENNEDY: Well, she was the last child in the family, and I don't know if you know, but she graduated valedictorian of her high school class. She was a -- she excelled in sports, and she went on to get her nursing degree. She was just basically, you know, an angel of a child in my dad's eyes, from what I've gathered. And you know, he was very proud of her, and she was constantly trying to please him.

And when he took ill, you know, she was over there helping him all the time, even though she had her own children to take care of. And my mother, you know, her health isn't the greatest either, so she just went out of her way to help, you know, anyone in our family, and neighbors, and basically anyone she saw that had a need.

And when my dad passed on, she -- I talked to her that day, actually that night, when he passed away, and she was pretty despondent. She did blame herself somewhat that she could have done more, even though, you know, his illness was nothing, you know, sudden. I mean, his health has declined steadily for the last year, and we all saw this coming, but she did blame herself somewhat for -- I'm not sure for what.

I was kind of taken aback when she made the comment to me, and I tried to reassure her that she did all she could, more than she should have. And I do remember that it kind of disturbed me that she felt that way.

BLITZER: Patrick Kennedy and Andrew Kennedy, unfortunately we are all out of time. Obviously, our deepest condolences go out to you and your family, and all of your loved ones for this terrible, terrible tragedy. The nation, of course, has been watching it so closely. Thank you so much for joining us this evening.

A. KENNEDY: Thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you.

And did U.S. Marine Corps officers know maintenance records were falsified on a controversial aircraft? We'll have the latest on the investigation into the Osprey test program. And we'll introduce you to the winner of the largest state lottery prize ever.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. In other stories making news tonight: a Pentagon investigation finds a small number of Marine Corps officers were aware that the maintenance records for the controversial Osprey aircraft had been deliberately falsified and that they failed to report it. The officers responsible and their squadron commander could face disciplinary action up to and including court-martial. The report finds the record-tampering occurred after two fatal crashes last year that killed 23 Marines.

One day after he was extradited to The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is facing more charges from his jail cell. He was handed an expanded indictment based on newly-discovered mass graves. And for handing over Milosevic, several lending institutions and nations, including the United States, are pledging more than $1 billion to help reconstruct war-torn Yugoslavia.

In California, the winner of a whopping lottery prize stepped forward today. A retired grocery clerk Al Castellano of San Jose claimed the $141 million jackpot, the largest single state jackpot in U.S. history. He opted for a lump sum, which amounts to almost $51 million after taxes.

The home of tech stocks suffers a technical glitch. Details of a Nasdaq nightmare ahead on "The Leading Edge."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Tonight on "The Leading Edge," a technology glitch brought the nation's No. 2 stock market to a halt today. About half of the trading on the tech-heavy Nasdaq was put on hold because of network outages. The market stayed open an extra hour to catch up.

NASA is getting ready to probe the roots of life as we know it. A spacecraft is said to lift off tomorrow on a mission to study and photograph the oldest light in the universe, what is said to be the afterglow of the big bang.

And that's all the time we have tonight. Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "THE POINT WITH GRETA VAN SUSTEREN" begins right now.

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