Cheney Suffers Abnormal Heart Rhythm

Oct. 15, 2008 -- For the second time in a year, Vice President Cheney will head the hospital to have an irregular heart beat corrected.

Earlier today, Cheney, 67, experienced an abnormal heart rhythm during a morning visit with doctors at George Washington University Hospital.

"It was discovered that the Vice President is experiencing a recurrence of atrial fibrillation, an abnormal rhythm involving the upper chambers of the heart," his press secretary Megan Mitchell said in a statement.

Last November, doctors discovered an irregular heartbeat when Cheney was getting a checkup following a lingering cough. Treated as an outpatient procedure, his doctors used what was described as an "electrical impulse" to restore normal rhythm in the upper chambers of the heart. Over his career, Cheney has experienced four heart attacks.

Later today, Cheney will have the outpatient procedure "to restore his normal rhythm."

The condition canceled the Vice President's plans to attend a campaign event in Illinois for Republican congressional candidate Marty Ozinga. Cheney did not attend the Cabinet or Iraq meetings today as he was expected to be traveling, but did participate in the usual early morning Oval Office security briefing.