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Dick Cheney Had Implanted Defibrillator Altered To Prevent Terrorist Attack

An anonymous reader writes "According to the Washington Post, 'Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he once feared that terrorists could use the electrical device that had been implanted near his heart to kill him and had his doctor disable its wireless function. Cheney has a history of heart trouble, suffering the first of five heart attacks at age 37. ... In an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes, Cheney says doctors replaced an implanted defibrillator near his heart in 2007. The device can detect irregular heartbeats and control them with electrical jolts. Cheney says that he and his doctor, cardiologist Jonathan Reiner, turned off the device's wireless function in case a terrorist tried to send his heart a fatal shock.' More at CBS News."

3 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Evil, powerful men have enemies. by houstonbofh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Frankly, anyone who understands how insecure wireless is should be terrified of having a built in personal "off switch." I would do the same thing, and so would a lot of slashdot.

  2. Re:Evil, powerful men have enemies. by Joining+Yet+Again · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Frankly, anyone who understands how fragile the human body is should be terrified of walking outdoors, etc.

    Murders don't happen all the time simply because most people aren't psychopathic cunts. But, in Cheney's case, it takes one to know one.

  3. Re:Evil, powerful men have enemies. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    By attacking America on 9/11, Al Qaeda hoped to lure America into a foolish overreaction that would alienate the West from the Islamic world, weaken America's will, and help spread Al Qaeda's message of extremism and violence. Few people helped them achieve these goals more than Dick Cheney did. So why would they want to kill him?