Former President George H.W. Bush, Barbara Bush Hospitalized
By CNN staff
PHILADELPHIA (CBS/CNN)--Former president George H.W. Bush has been hospitalized and placed in stable condition in the ICU, a spokesman said on Wednesday. CBS Evening News has also confirmed his wife, Barbara Bush, has been admitted to the hospital.
UPDATE: Pres. George H.W. Bush's office says he "is stable and resting comfortably in the ICU". Additionally, Barbara Bush has been admitted pic.twitter.com/FrDoy8cnEf
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 18, 2017
The office of George H.W. Bush says Barbara Bush was admitted to the Houston Methodist as a precaution after experiencing fatigue and coughing.
Jim McGrath said that George H.W. Bush has been hospitalized at Houston Methodist Hospital since Saturday for shortness of breath. He said the 41st US president is responding well to treatments and will be released from the hospital soon.
Bush's chief of staff, Jean Becker, told the Houston Chronicle and news station KHOU that Bush is "doing fine."
Bush, who served a single-term as President from 1988 to 1992, was already not expected to attend the inauguration of the 45th President, Donald J. Trump, in Washington on Friday due to health concerns.
Bush sent a letter to the president-elect on Jan. 10, apologizing for missing the ceremony, and saying that he and his wife Barbara "wish you the very best as you begin this incredible journey of leading our great country."
"My doctor says if I sit outside in January, it likely will put me six feet under. Same for Barbara," Bush wrote, in a letter first reported on by ABC. "So I guess we're stuck in Texas."
Several bouts with illness have kept the 92-year-old out of the spotlight in recent years and he has rarely made public remarks.
Previous health concerns
Bush revealed several years ago that he suffered from a form of Parkinson's disease that left him unable to walk. He uses a wheelchair or a scooter to get around and had two other health scares in 2014 and 2015.
In December 2014 he was hospitalized after experiencing shortness of breath, and the following July fell at his home in Kennebunkport, Maine, breaking the C2 vertebrae in his neck.
The injury did not result in any neurological problems, his spokesman said at the time.
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