# Dick Cheney finally has a heart
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [March 24, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721 "2012-03-24T23:42:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/1 "2012-03-24T23:42:45Z")
[He had a transplant](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/aide-says-former-vice-president-dick-cheney-had-heart-transplant/2012/03/24/gIQALSIYYS_story.html?wpisrc=al_comboNP).
The end of one era of jokes. Perhaps the beginning of another?
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/2 "2012-03-24T23:49:40Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> [He had a transplant](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/aide-says-former-vice-president-dick-cheney-had-heart-transplant/2012/03/24/gIQALSIYYS_story.html?wpisrc=al_comboNP).
>
> The end of one era of jokes. Perhaps the beginning of another?
He should have gotten a good deal on his trade-in, the old one was barely used.
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### Author:  [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/3 "2012-03-24T23:50:52Z")
He’ll probably live forever.
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### Author:  [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/4 "2012-03-25T00:08:22Z")
Was it sponsored by Valvoline?
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### Author:  [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/5 "2012-03-25T00:18:14Z")
I feel bad for the donor, he probably thought he would be giving a second chance at life to an artist, or teacher, but then he gets to the afterlife and finds out he pretty much kept Darth Vader alive.
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/6 "2012-03-25T00:22:01Z")
> [@madmonk28](#):
>
> I feel bad for the donor, he probably thought he would be giving a second chance at life to an artist, or teacher, but then he gets to the afterlife and finds out he pretty much kept Darth Vader alive.
As a Sith-American I am offended at the comparison to Cheney. You shall here from my lawyers! Or I’ll force-choke you, whatever.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/7 "2012-03-25T00:25:29Z")
The survival rates still aren’t that great. I guess every day is special and 5 years is better than dying tomorrow. Cheney is over 65 too. That’s still a lot of pain & recovery time for a few years of life.
[http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jRPT-C0fE6xoNbGXpAdyEhgm1X1g?docId=0d23d1e5a91e4101944b941d56a06c05](http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jRPT-C0fE6xoNbGXpAdyEhgm1X1g?docId=0d23d1e5a91e4101944b941d56a06c05)
> [@](#):
>
> The odds of survival are good. More than 70 percent of heart transplant recipients live at least five years, although survival is a bit lower for people over age 65.
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/8 "2012-03-25T00:25:50Z")
On an unrelated note, I was reading in a science magazine that there are already people walking around who have lived for a few years with artificial hearts. They claim it’ll take about 10 years for the design to improve and FDA testing to be passed before they are ready for the US public.
Maybe next Cheney can try that. i remember on Maddow someone was talking about how Cheney’s cardiac history pretty much mirrors the advances in heart disease science. As a new development comes about Cheney would use it right when it comes out.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/9 "2012-03-25T00:26:52Z")
> [@madmonk28](#):
>
> I feel bad for the donor…
I forget his name. Abby something..
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/10 "2012-03-25T00:27:00Z")
Finally. Now the stakes will _work_!
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/11 "2012-03-25T00:41:26Z")
Maybe next somebody will give Bush a brain.
And (to keep in bipartisan) Obama could use some courage.
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/12 "2012-03-25T00:47:03Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> The survival rates still aren’t that great.
Every heart transplant gives the surgeon experience, and the scientists data, and will, in the long run, improve the survival rate.
Louis Washkansky lived eighteen days in 1967. There appears to be some improvement.
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### Author:  [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/13 "2012-03-25T01:08:00Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#):
>
> I forget his name. Abby something..
I love you for that.
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/14 "2012-03-25T01:16:32Z")
Serious question:
Does anyone think Cheney received special treatment on the donor list? According to the [Yahoo News](http://news.yahoo.com/aide-says-cheney-had-heart-transplant-230644930.html) article, he was on the waiting list for 20 months…I was under the impression it typically took longer than that to get an organ.
I mean…I know it’s part luck, it’s a myriad of factors including your location, blood type/genetics, and so forth…so someone else could be higher up than him, but the wrong blood type to the donor, or too far away to transport the heart to…but part of me can’t shake that feeling that being a former VP he got “moved up” on the list…and that doesn’t sit right _if_ that’s what happened.
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### Author:  [@Kerrigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kerrigan)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/15 "2012-03-25T01:28:13Z")
> [@bouv](#):
>
> Serious question:
>
> Does anyone think Cheney received special treatment on the donor list? According to the [Yahoo News](http://news.yahoo.com/aide-says-cheney-had-heart-transplant-230644930.html) article, he was on the waiting list for 20 months…I was under the impression it typically took longer than that to get an organ.
>
> I mean…I know it’s part luck, it’s a myriad of factors including your location, blood type/genetics, and so forth…so someone else could be higher up than him, but the wrong blood type to the donor, or too far away to transport the heart to…but part of me can’t shake that feeling that being a former VP he got “moved up” on the list…and that doesn’t sit right _if_ that’s what happened.
Background: I’m an RN with all of my nursing experience in critical care. I do not work with transplant patients, but I do work with an organ procurement organization and, occasionally, am involved with the organ donation process.
I got a little insight into how the waiting list thing works after Steve Jobs died and there was much discussion about his transplant. Basically, the short answer is _no_, you cannot get bumped up on a transplant list just because of who you are. However, if you have the money and resources, you can improve your chances of getting an organ by enrolling on multiple waiting lists in multiple locations.
For example, Joe Schmoe who lives in New York might not be able to fly on a few hours’ notice to a hospital in California where they have a potential donor for him. He would be limited by the lack of a private plane, cash to pay for the quick flight, etc. So he wouldn’t be enrolled on the lists for that area. However, someone like Steve Jobs who had plenty of money for travel could potentially (and I believe this is what he did) enroll with organ procurement organizations/waiting lists in many locations across the country by visiting many hospitals and physicians. Areas with less demand for organs essentially gave him a better chance for waiting a shorter amount of time.
I don’t know anything about Cheney’s heart transplant, but this a potential scenario that could have reduced his waiting time for a heart without giving him “special treatment,” per se.
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/16 "2012-03-25T01:31:17Z")
> [@bouv](#):
>
> I mean…I know it’s part luck, it’s a myriad of factors including your location, blood type/genetics, and so forth…so someone else could be higher up than him, but the wrong blood type to the donor, or too far away to transport the heart to…but part of me can’t shake that feeling that being a former VP he got “moved up” on the list…and that doesn’t sit right _if_ that’s what happened.
I think you should shake that feeling. If he got moved up on the list, it wouldn’t have taken 20 months for him to get a heart. Something like 4000 people in the U.S. had heart transplants while Cheney was waiting. It’s the luck of the draw.
The luck of the draw would be a lot better if more people would allow their organs, or the organs of the relative that they are next of kin of, to be used. I don’t think it’s important that my heart, or my kidney, or my cornea be cremated along with the rest of me, and I find it disgusting that so many people refuse to allow their useless remains to be used to benefit the still living.
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### Author:  [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/17 "2012-03-25T01:32:51Z")
> [@madmonk28](#):
>
> I feel bad for the donor, he probably thought he would be giving a second chance at life to an artist, or teacher, but then he gets to the afterlife and finds out he pretty much kept Darth Vader alive.
This +1.
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/18 "2012-03-25T02:31:20Z")
> [@Frank](#):
>
> … I find it disgusting that so many people refuse to allow their useless remains to be used to benefit the still living.
Now to be fair, there are some legitimate concerns as to why you might not want to just openly be a donor without question. There have been numerous articles about how much of a hurry they are in to do organ harvests, and there are a lot of open questions about just how dead you need to be to be considered dead.
That being said, I am an organ donor, and if I’m really close to death, then I say, go for my organs anyway. But don’t be disgusted that many people refuse to just sign that they agree to be a donor.
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/19 "2012-03-25T02:48:38Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#):
>
> Now to be fair, there are some legitimate concerns as to why you might not want to just openly be a donor without question. There have been numerous articles about how much of a hurry they are in to do organ harvests, and there are a lot of open questions about just how dead you need to be to be considered dead.
Those “numerous articles” do not raise “legitimate questions”. If those questions were legitimate, we’d all be wondering why Terri Schiavo had not yet been harvested 20 years ago.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-finally-has-a-heart/616721/20 "2012-03-25T03:03:14Z")
Apparently the donor was an otherwise healthy young person who was mysteriously killed by a shotgun near Cheney’s home. Strange coincidence.
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