Dick Cheney Rushed to Hospital

Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, was rushed to hospital in Washington DC today after suffering from shortness of breath.

The 64-year-old, who has a history of health scares, was suffering from fluid retention as a result of anti-inflammatory medication, the hospital said in a statement.

Doctors administered an electrocardiogram but found no evidence of unusual heart activity. They expect him to return home from the George Washington University Hospital later today.

Mr Cheney was seen walking with a stick last week because of what his spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said was a sore foot. She said it was being treated with "rest and anti-inflammatories" and was not related to his heart condition.

Before becoming vice-president in January 2001, Mr Cheney had four heart attacks. The first was in 1978 when he was 37, a second followed in 1984 and 1988. All were described as mild, but following the third attack he underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery.

He suffered his fourth heart attack was in the weeks between the contested November 2000 presidential election and George Bush's eventually victory. He had a two-hour operation following the attack that doctors described as "slight".

Mr Cheney was fitted with a defibrillator to control his heart rate in June 2001 and had surgery to repair aneurysms - sacs formed the abnormal dilation of weakened blood vessel walls - behind his knees.

Before becoming Mr Bush's vice-president, Mr Cheney was White House chief of staff and defence secretary for George Bush Sr during the 1991 Gulf war. Between the two Bush administrations he was chief executive of Haliburton.

He has a reputation as the most powerful US vice-president of recent times.