Former president Bill Clinton discharged from hospital after treatment for infection
Former president Bill Clinton was discharged from the hospital Sunday, his medical team confirmed, nearly a week after he was admitted for an infection of the bloodstream, a condition known as sepsis.
Clinton, 75, was admitted to the University of California at Irvine Medical Center on Tuesday "to receive treatment for a non-Covid-related infection," his spokesman, Angel Ureña, said in a statement Thursday.
On Sunday, Clinton's fever and white blood cell count were normalized, Alpesh N. Amin, chair of the hospital's department of medicine, said in a statement. Clinton will return home to New York to finish his course of antibiotics, added Amin, who had been overseeing the team of doctors treating the former president.
"On behalf of everyone at UC Irvine Medical Center, we were honored to have treated him and will continue to monitor his progress," Amin said.
Clinton was diagnosed with a urological infection that morphed into an infection of the bloodstream, or sepsis, according to a Clinton aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the former president's medical status. However, Clinton was never in septic shock, a far more serious and life-threatening condition, the aide said.
On Friday, Ureña said all of Clinton's health indicators were "trending in the right direction" and that his white blood count had decreased significantly. On Saturday, the spokesman noted that Clinton would remain hospitalized overnight again to continue to receive intravenous antibiotics.
"He is in great spirits and has been spending time with family, catching up with friends and watching college football," Ureña said in a statement Saturday. "He is deeply grateful for the excellent care he continues to receive and thankful to the many well-wishers who have sent kind words to him and his family. He's looking forward to getting home very soon."
Clinton's wife, former first lady and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, was photographed visiting UC Irvine Medical Center several days this week.
Bill Clinton was in California earlier last week for an event related to his nonprofit Clinton Foundation and was taken to the hospital Tuesday after reporting that he was not feeling well, according to CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta.
The issue was not related to the coronavirus or to his heart, Gupta reported after interviews with Clinton's doctors. Clinton underwent heart bypass surgery in 2004 and had stents placed in 2010.
President Joe Biden, during a visit to a Connecticut child-care center Friday, said that he had been "exchanging calls" on the situation and that Clinton seemed "to be really doing well."
Biden spoke with Clinton by phone Friday afternoon, according to deputy White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
"He's doing fine. He really is," Biden said Friday. "He's not in any serious condition."