HOUSTON (AP) — Former President George H.W. Bush has been moved to an ICU unit at a Houston hospital after he was diagnosed with an acute respiratory problem stemming from pneumonia. His wife, Former First Lady Barbara Bush, has also been hospitalized as a precaution, after experiencing fatigue and coughing.
The former president 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.
However, later on Wednesday, the Office of George H.W. Bush released the following statement:
“Shortly after our previous report on President Bush’s condition, he was admitted to the ICU at Houston Methodist Hospital to address an acute respiratory problem stemming from pneumonia. Doctors performed a procedure to protect and clear his airway that required sedation. President Bush is stable and resting comfortably in the ICU, where he will remain for observation.
Additionally, Mrs. Bush was admitted to the Houston Methodist Hospital this morning as a precaution after experiencing fatigue and coughing.”
Despite the loss of mobility, Bush celebrated his 90th birthday by making a tandem parachute jump in Kennebunkport, Maine. 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.
Bush’s office announced earlier this month that he and his wife of more than 70 years, Barbara, would not attend Donald Trump’s inauguration this week due to the former president’s age and health.
George Herbert Walker Bush, born June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, also served as a congressman, CIA director and Ronald Reagan’s vice president.
His son, George W. Bush, was elected president in 2000 and served two terms. Another son, Jeb — a former Florida governor — made an unsuccessful bid for the GOP nomination in 2016. Only one other U.S. president, John Adams, had a son who also became president.
