Apparently Dick Cheney’s heart problems are rapidly worsening - he has been implanted with a ventricular assist device, and as a result, now has no pulse or heartbeat, just a constant 10,000 RPM whirring…
Without this device, he would only have a few more months to live - and it seems that the expected survival rate is still only about 50% over the next two years, without a transplant.
I feel sorry for the guy. Regardless of what you think of his policies, it sounds like a pretty shitty way to go.
rachel maddow had a cardio surgeon on her show last week who explained the operation. i can’t imagine how that sounds at 3am when you wake up and everything is quiet and you can hear your heartbeat. he can’t now and that has got to be surreal.
also one of the best things about being with someone is hearing their heartbeat. his wife can’t have that very comforting sound.
he has escaped death quite a few times since '78, it sounds like this is his last chance.
After all the evil he’s done I can’t feel sorry for him. I can’t imagine anything happening to him that would be awful enough that I would feel sorry for him.
I can’t feel too sorry for anyone who has the financial wherewithal to get a life-extending procedure. Many, many Americans with DC’s health problems (but not his insurance) would have expired long ago. If this causes him undue suffering, he can ask that it be discontinued. He has a choice–a lot of people don’t.
As tempted as I may be to make this about his politics, the truth is that I hold the same view when it comes to my own family members, two of whom have diminishing quality of life but would have had no chance at living this long if their conditions had occurred 30 years ago, or if they lacked financial resources.
No, it’s not a shitty way to go, and you can’t separate it from his policies. He’s got lots of time to get his affairs in order and say his goodbyes. Many people don’t have that. He also has the best medical care in the country. Millions of people don’t have that. He’s lucky to live in a time and place when such a miracle is possible, and he’s lucky to be able to get that miracle for himself. For many decades his party has stood in the way of “ordinary” people accessing the same kind of healthcare that’s keeping him alive.
From the article: “they are urged to wear bracelets or other identifications to alert emergency room doctors as to why they have no pulse.”
Yeah, if I was an ER doc, and Cheney came walking in with no pulse, “ventricular assist device” probably would be the first explanation to come to mind. I’d lean towards a more Lovecraftian theory.
I can’t. Dick may be pure, unblinking evil, but he has a wife and daughter who love him and will grieve for them. In a perfect world he’d be in prison, but I refuse to wish evil upon him.
He’s a sick, sick person for allowing it to enter MY mind. UGH!!!
Seriously, though, I’m pretty indifferent to this. I feel for his family, yes. But him? I don’t really care one way or another.
Bathing in virgin’s blood has been discussed on this board as a possibility. It’s why the Bush administration wanted abstinence to be the only birth control method to be taught.
Skald, you’re a wuss, flying pulseless monkeys or not.
