Hunter shot by Cheney has heart attack
LYNN BREZOSKY and NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The 78-year-old lawyer who was shot by Vice President 
Dick Cheney in a hunting accident has some birdshot lodged in his heart and 
he had "a minor heart attack" Tuesday morning, hospital officials said.

The victim, Harry Whittington, was immediately moved back to the intensive 
care unit for further treatment, said Peter Banko, the administrator at Christus 
Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial in Texas.

Banko said there was an irregularity in the heartbeat caused by a pellet, and 
doctors performed a cardiac catheterization. Whittington expressed a desire 
to leave the hospital, but Banko said he would probably stay for another week 
to make sure more shot doesn't move to other organs or to other part of his 
body.

"Some of the birdshot appears to have moved and lodged into part of his heart 
in what we would say is a minor heart attack," Banko said in a news 
conference outside the hospital.

David Blanchard, chief of emergency care, called it "a silent heart attack, 
an asymptomatic heart attack. He's not had a heart attack in the traditional 
sense."

The doctors said Whittington did not experience symptoms of a heart attack or 
any other problems. They left the birdshot in place and said he could live a 
healthy life with it there.

White House physicians who attended to Whittington at the scene after Cheney 
accidentally shot him were involved in the treatment, the officials said.

Whittington had initially been placed in intensive care after the accident 
Saturday evening. He had been moved to a "step-down unit" Monday after doctors 
decided to leave several birdshot pellets lodged in his skin rather than try to 
remove them.

A Texas Parks and Wildlife Department report issued Monday said Whittington 
was retrieving a downed bird and stepped out of the hunting line he was sharing 
with Cheney. "Another covey was flushed and Cheney swung on a bird and fired, 
striking Whittington in the face, neck and chest at approximately 30 yards," 
the report said.

The department found the main factor contributing to the accident was a 
"hunter's judgment factor." No other secondary factors were found to have played a 
role.

The department gave Cheney and Whittington warning citations for breaking 
Texas hunting law by failing to buy a $7 stamp allowing them to shoot upland game 
birds. A department spokesman said warnings are being issued in most cases 
because the stamp requirement only went into effect five months ago and many 
hunters weren't aware of it.

Cheney's office said Monday night in a statement that Cheney had a $125 
nonresident hunting license and has sent a $7 check to cover the cost of the stamp. 
"The staff asked for all permits needed, but was not informed of the $7 
upland game bird stamp requirement," the statement said.

Cheney, an experienced hunter, has not said anything publicly about the 
accident. It was fodder for jokes on late night TV and early Tuesday at the White 
House, before news surfaced about problems with Whittington's heart.

Hospital officials said they notified the White House of the change in 
Whittington's condition late in the morning. The mood of press secretary Scott 
McClellan was much more serious in an afternoon press briefing shortly before the 
hospital publicly updated Whittington's condition.

Katharine Armstrong, owner of the ranch where the shooting occurred, said 
Whittington made a mistake by not announcing that he had walked up to rejoin the 
hunting line after going to retrieve his bird, and Cheney didn't see him as he 
tried to down a bird.

The accident raised questions about Cheney's adherence to hunting safety 
practices and the White House's failure to disclose the accident in a timely way.

Several hunting safety experts agreed in interviews that it would have been a 
good idea for Whittington to announce himself. But every expert stressed that 
the shooter is responsible for avoiding other people.

Bush was told about Cheney's involvement in the accident shortly before 8 
p.m. Saturday - about an hour after it occurred - but the White House did not 
disclose the accident until Sunday afternoon, and then only in response to press 
questions.

ON THE NET

White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov

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