George H.W. Bush hospitalized for shortness of breath

Published On: January 18, 2017 05:48 PM NPT By: Associated Press


HOUSTON, Jan 18: Former President   of the United States of America George H.W. Bush was taken to the hospital over the weekend for shortness of breath and the 92-year-old is responding well to treatments, his spokesman said Wednesday.

The 41st president was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital on Saturday, spokesman Jim McGrath said in an email to The Associated Press.

"Doctors and everyone are very pleased, and we hope to have him out soon," McGrath said.

Bush chief of staff Jean Becker earlier told the Houston Chronicle and KHOU-TV that they expected him to go home in a couple of days.

Bush, who served as U.S. president from 1989 to 1993, has a form of Parkinson's disease and uses a motorized scooter or a wheelchair for mobility. He was hospitalized in Maine in 2015 after falling at his summer home and breaking a bone in his neck, and was hospitalized in Houston the previous December for about a week for shortness of breath. He spent Christmas 2012 in intensive care for a bronchitis-related cough and other issues.

Despite the loss of mobility, he celebrated his 90th birthday by making a tandem parachute jump in Kennebunkport. Last summer, Bush led a group of 40 wounded warriors on a fishing trip at the helm of his speedboat, three days after his 92nd birthday celebration.

His office announced earlier this month that Bush and his wife, Barbara, would not attend Donald Trump's inauguration this week due to the former president's age and health.

 


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