What is defibrillator? Concerns grow over Bill Clinton’s health after he’s seen carrying one

The item accompanying the couple appeared to be a Propaq MD Air Medical Bag as they boarded a private plane on Thursday, August 28. This development comes almost two months after the former US president was seen stumbling on a Big Apple sidewalk. Let’s find out more about this medical device.

What is a defibrillator?

A defibrillator is a device that provides an electric shock to the heart of the patient so that the individual can potentially survive fatal abnormal heart rhythm, or arrhythmia, — ventricular tachycardia (with no pulse) or ventricular fibrillation. This device helps in bringing back heart to a normal rhythm, according to Cleveland Clinic.

Bill Clinton’s medical history

It is important to note that Bill Clinton has a long history of heart trouble and has battled serious health problems for more than two decades. From multiple hospitalisations to quadruple bypass, the ex-President narrowly escaped a catastrophic heart attack in 2004.

Bill Clinton suffered nearly complete blockages in his arteries for which he underwent emergency quadruple bypass surgery at Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan almost three years after he left the White House.

In 2005, he underwent another surgery to repair a collapsed lung. According to doctors it was due to a scar tissue following his bypass. The 42nd US President suffered chest pains five years after the last collapsed lung surgery and was taken to a New York hospital, where cardiologists inserted two stents into a clogged artery, New York Post reported.

The former commander in chief suffered urological infection in October 2021 and was hospitalised for several days in California. He was administered IV antibiotics for sepsis as the infection had entered his bloodstream.

In December last year, the Arkansas-born politician spent Christmas Eve at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington DC, after he developed a fever and had to undergo testing. Although, he was discharged on the following day.