Between 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney Refuses to Give a Blood Sample, despite Possibly Having a Life-Threatening Condition

Vice President Dick Cheney refuses to have a blood sample taken, even though tests on a sample he gave this morning indicated that he is in danger of having a heart attack, and he says he will instead give a sample tomorrow morning. [Cheney and Reiner, 2013, pp. 188-189; New York Times, 10/16/2013] Cheney has a long history of heart disease and has suffered four heart attacks. [New York Times, 7/1/2001] Testing of a blood sample he gave this morning showed a potentially lethal level of potassium. If correct, this would mean he has a condition called hyperkalemia, which can lead to cardiac arrest. [New York Times, 10/16/2013] Dr. Jonathan Reiner, Cheney’s cardiologist, asked Dr. Lewis Hofmann, Cheney’s White House physician, to arrange for the potassium test to be repeated tonight (see (Late Afternoon) September 11, 2001). Consequently, while he is accompanying Cheney as the vice president is being flown by helicopter to Camp David (see Shortly After 10:00 p.m. September 11, 2001), Hofmann passes Cheney a note, informing him that he needs to provide another sample of blood. Cheney, though, refuses to do so. “Not tonight, Lew, you can have it in the morning,” he says. Whether he is aware of the results of the test on his blood sample from this morning and the possible danger he is in are unstated. [Cheney and Reiner, 2013, pp. 189] Reiner is seriously concerned about Cheney’s health. “I laid awake that night… watching the replays of the [Twin] Towers come down and now thinking that, ‘Oh great, the vice president’s gonna die tonight from hyperkalemia,’” he will later recall. [CBS, 10/20/2013] Fortunately, testing of the blood sample that Cheney provides on the morning of September 12 will show that the vice president’s potassium level is normal and the earlier test results must have been erroneous. [Cheney and Reiner, 2013, pp. 193-194]