another blood test showed cheney s potassium levels were normal. but this level of scrutiny over dick cheney s health is a rem d reminder, he is no ordinary patient and caring for him often required extraordinary precautions. in 2007, when cheney needed his implanted defibrillator replaced, dr. reiner ordered the manufacturer to disable the wireless feature, fearing a terrorist could assassinate the vice president by sending a signal to the device telling it to shock his heart into cardiac arrest. and it seemed to me to be a bad idea for the vice president of the united states to have a device that maybe somebody on a rope line or someone in the next hotel room or downstairs might be able to get into, hack into, and i worried that someone could kill you. it might sound far fetched, but years later, this scene from the showtime drama homeland showed just how it could be done
big concern. how big are we talking about? potassium 6.9 can kill you. this is a huge problem. yeah. i laid awake that night watching the replays of the towers come down and not thinking that oh, great, the vice president s going to die tonight of this. another blood test the next day showed cheney s potassium levels were normal. but this level of scrutiny over dick cheney s health is a reminder. he is no ordinary patient. and caring for him often required extraordinary precautions. in 2007, when cheney needed his implanted defibrillator replaced, dr. reiner ordered the manufacturer to disable the wireless feature, fearing a terrorist could assassinate the vice president by sending a signal to the device telling it to shock his heart into cardiac arrest. and it seemed to me to be a bad idea for the vice president of the united states to have a device that maybe somebody on a
cheney needed a stent to prop open clogged artery. are you ready to take the oath? i am. please raise your right hand and repeat after me. yet again, modern medicine had helped dick cheney dodge a bullet. but nine months later cheney confronted what he considers one of the biggest challenges of his life, 9/11. with president bush in florida, cheney was in a bunker under the white house helping make decisions, even given authority by the president to shoot down passenger airliners. i mean, as far as stress goes, and again as a doctor with your heart history, how worried were you about just your health in the midst of all this? didn t occur to me. not at all? no. i didn t think about my health. i was thinking about the problem we were dealing with. what cheney didn t know was that his cardiologist, jonathan reiner, had received the results of a blood test that morning showing his potassium levels were dangerously high, a condition called hyperchelinia.
what cheney didn t know is his cardiologist showing his pa tas yum levels were dangerously high. a concern, how big are we talking about? potassium 6.9 can kill you. this is a huge problem. i laid awake last night watching the replay of the towers come down and not think great, the president is going to die tonight. another blood test the next day showed cheney s potassium levels were normal but a reminder, he is no ordinary patient and caring for him often required extraordinary precautions. in 2007 when cheney needed the implanted defibrillator in place, the doctor ordered the manufacturer to disable the wireless feature fearing a terrorist could assassinate the president sending a signal to the device telling it to shock
goes, and again as a doctor with your heart history, how worried were you about just your health in the midst of all this? didn t occur to me. not at all? no. i didn t think about my health. i was thinking about the problem we were dealing with. what cheney didn t know was that his cardiologist, jonathan reiner, had received the results of a blood test that morning showing his potassium levels were dangerously high, a condition called hyperchelinia. big concern. how big are we talk about? potassium 6.9 can kill you. this is a huge problem. yeah. i laid awake that night watching the replays of the towers come down and not thinking that oh, great the vice president s going to die tonight of this. another blood test the next day showed cheney s potassium levels were normal. but this level of scrutiny over dick cheney s health is a reminder. he is no ordinary patient. and caring for him often required extraordinary precautions. in 2007, when cheney needed his