# Cheney has no pulse
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 19, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267 "2010-07-19T20:14:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/1 "2010-07-19T20:14:17Z")
[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/health/20docs.html?\_r=1&hp](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/health/20docs.html?_r=1&hp)
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.
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/2 "2010-07-19T20:39:56Z")
Wow. Yeah, I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.
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### Author:  [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/3 "2010-07-19T20:43:13Z")
Damn, modern medicine is a miracle, isn’t it?
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### Author:  [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/4 "2010-07-19T20:46:41Z")
That must be a strange sensation. Yeesh.
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### Author:  [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/5 "2010-07-19T20:49:17Z")
I’m torn.
On the one hand, it really does suck, and I too wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
On the other hand, I can’t help but be reminded of all the Darth Cheney jokes. “He’s more machine now than man.”
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### Author:  [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/6 "2010-07-19T20:50:30Z")
Given he deaths that have resulted in the policies he and his cronies advocated, I wonder how many Iraqi parents feel for him.
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### Author:  [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/7 "2010-07-19T20:50:44Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/8 "2010-07-19T20:59:42Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/9 "2010-07-19T21:00:21Z")
OK, am I the only one who misread the title of the OP as “Cheney has no pubes?”
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/10 "2010-07-19T21:14:03Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> 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 must agree.
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### Author:  [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/11 "2010-07-19T21:17:12Z")
> [@Encinitas](#):
>
> OK, am I the only one who misread the title of the OP as “Cheney has no pubes?”
You are a sick, sick person for even allowing Dick Cheney’s genitalia to enter your mind at all. I weep for you and stuff.
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### Author:  [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/12 "2010-07-19T21:20:13Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/13 "2010-07-19T21:20:25Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#):
>
> You are a sick, sick person for even allowing Dick Cheney’s genitalia to enter your mind at all. I weep for you and stuff.
I’m so sorry. I need to bleach my brain.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/14 "2010-07-19T21:28:25Z")
I think I would take the few months. Quality of life is far more important to me than longevity, especially when 70+ years have already been lived.
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/15 "2010-07-19T21:29:13Z")
I’m sure as a former VP he has life long health insurance and everything is covered. No need to get pre-approval.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/16 "2010-07-19T21:33:36Z")
> [@Absolute](#):
>
> Regardless of what you think of his policies, it sounds like a pretty shitty way to go.
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.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/17 "2010-07-19T21:36:02Z")
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.
And yeah, I don’t care if that is insensitive.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/18 "2010-07-19T21:39:36Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> I must agree.
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.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/19 "2010-07-19T21:50:33Z")
Dick Cheney has a heart?
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#):
>
> You are a sick, sick person for even allowing Dick Cheney’s genitalia to enter your mind at all. I weep for you and stuff.
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.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheney-has-no-pulse/547267/20 "2010-07-19T22:45:53Z")
> [@Revtim](#):
>
> 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.
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. 🙂
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