The Texas lawyer accidentally shot by US Vice President Dick Cheney during a weekend quail hunt suffered a minor heart attack today when some of the birdshot still in his body lodged near his heart, a hospital spokesman said.
Harry Whittington (78) was moved into intensive care and ordered to stay in the Corpus Christi, Texas, hospital for at least another seven days to monitor his condition, said Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital spokesman Peter Banko.
The news suddenly gave a serious edge to the incident that the White House had begun making light of today after tense exchanges with the press the day before over failure to disclose the shooting for almost a full day.
Dr David Blanchard, the hospital's emergency room chief, said at a news conference doctors noted an irregular heartbeat during a morning examination of Whittington and it was determined he was having a minor heart attack.
He was moved into the hospital's intensive care unit and underwent cardiac catheterization for his quivering heart. "We picked up an irregular heartbeat. At no time did he have any chest pain, the classic signs of a heart attack or anything like that," Blanchard said.
Mr Whittington, a Republican stalwart in Texas, was peppered by an estimated 200 pellets on Saturday when the shotgun-wielding Cheney whirled to shoot a covey of quail on a southern Texas ranch and hit Mr Whittington instead.
Mr Cheney spoke to him by telephone from Washington today after watching a televised hospital news conference on Mr Whittington's health setback.
"The vice president wished Mr Whittington well and asked if there was anything he needed," Mr Cheney's office said in a statement. Mr Cheney has not spoken publicly about the incident.