Just days after burying his wife Barbara, who died at age 92, former President George H.W. Bush has been hospitalised after an infection he contracted spread to his blood. Spokesman to the former president said on Monday that Bush was admitted to the hospital on Sunday.
“President Bush was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital Sunday after contracting an infection that spread to his blood.
“He is responding to treatments and appears to be recovering. We will issue additional updates as events warrant,” Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said in a statement.
Bush, 93, was hospitalised last April for two weeks due to a “mild case of pneumonia.” Earlier in 2017 he was hospitalized for 16 days, also to be treated for pneumonia.
He was temporarily placed on a ventilator and was treated in the intensive care unit.
His wife was also hospitalised around the same time to treat a case of bronchitis.
He also was hospitalised in 2015 in Maine after falling at home and breaking a bone in his neck, and in December 2014 for about a week for shortness of breath.
Bush spent Christmas 2012 in intensive care for a bronchitis-related cough and other issues.
Barbara died Tuesday, shortly after her family announced she was in failing health and would decline further medical treatment in favor of “comfort care.” There were no details of her specific health problems.
Bush was “broken-hearted” over the loss of his “beloved Barbara” and was said to have held her hand all day. He was “at her side” when she passed away, his chief of staff said.
The 41st president uses a wheelchair and an electric scooter for mobility after developing a form of Parkinson’s disease, and he has needed hospital treatment several times in recent years for respiratory problems.
Bush served as president from 1989 to 1993 and as vice president under Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1989. He also served as a congressman and as director of the CIA.
