we counted down the seconds who knew dick cheney had a heart.transplant. implies he had one before. to some it might be a surprise that a world famous author would make such a dull joke. but flabby boob like rusty like any salmon can trade a present wife for a new one. biggest joke is rusty was protected by people like can cheney after they put a price on his head. but he wasn't the on one to go there. wondered if dick cheney deserved that heart transplant. so like rushdie did predictability. do you think they would asking this question if it were jimmy carter? but it's dick cheney so here you go. >> people say it's unlikely the 71-year-old jumped the line but nonetheless it has raised a lot of ethical questions, moral about whether the vice president should have received this heart ahead of other people. and raising a question how old is too old to receive a precious transplant. >> greg: raises one question, maybe nancy schneiderman needs a heart transplant, too. >> my goodness. >> greg: whenever people are trying to create a news story, people

and did cheney get any preferential treatment?d peggy fox to get some answers. >> reporter: could it be that former vice president dick cheney was moved to the top of waiting list to receive a new heart over a younger patient? >> i can't fathom anybody trying that, particularly if you have a high profile person. >> the medical director of heart transplantation at washington hospital center. one of only two hospitals in the washington area that do heart transplants. cheney had his surgery at anova fairfax's heart institute. at 71, cheney is older than most heart transplant recipients, but doctors say medical advances have made it possible for older patients to still be good transplant candidates. >> initially was under 60, then went to 70. >> patient has to have a sick heart, but good health otherwise. >> it's not just what they look like on the outside, but what their organs look like on the inside. we take all these issues into consideration. >> cheney has had congestive heart disease for decades, suffering his first of five hear

cheney's wait for a heart is considered slightly longer than usual. it's not unique that somebody of cheney's age gets a heart transplant. on average recipients are a bit younger. bianna? >> all right, david. >>> we want to bring in dr. richard besser. great to see you, dr. besser. i want to go back to what dr. topol, he raised the question -- is 71 too old for a heart transplant and should it have gone to a younger transplant. >> in some hospitals are using 65, i talked to two leading transplant surgeons, they no longer use age. if the rest of the patient's body is fine, no kidney disease, age is not a factor at all. >> we know that he had been using that ventricular assist pump for two years now, he had been readying himself for a heart transplant. another question people ask, when someone prominent receives a transplant, was there any preferential treatment? did they jump the line? from what you see now. >> we don't have all of the details. from what we see so far, it doesn't look like that way. i talked to the head of i talked to the head of trans

hey, everybody, here's my impression of dick cheney's surgeon removing cheney's original heart. it bit me. (screaming) oh, my god. why does a human heart have fangs? (screaming) all right. i can't do this. how is this guy zimmerman not chargeded with anything? how can the guy still have a gun that he shot this kid with? >> zimmerman is not under arrest. perhaps in part because of florida's "stand your ground" law. >> jon: florida. i feel like florida and arizona are locked in a harm's race. all right, florida, what is the "stand your ground law." >> the law says a citizen who feels threatened has no duty to retreat. in florida is immune from civil or criminal action if the force is considered justified. >> florida's "stand your ground" law gives enormous lee way for people like zimmerman to use deadly force if they feel threatened. >> jon: how can a state have that law and spring break? hey, i have an idea. let's pass a law saying anyone who feels threatened doesn't have to retreat and then invite dozens of frat guys to town. it's like in new york subway: if you see something, s

cheney's prospects are pretty good. overall, 88% of men who get a heart transplant survive for a year even 73% survive for five years. so he as, as jamie pointed out, been the beneficiary of many, many advances in heart treatment and here he is if yet getting another one. he could live many years more. >> i want to go back to being on the list. what does that say in terms of your ability to go beyond a certain border or boundary while you're on that list? >> for the average person, it means they have to carry a beeper and come into a hospital in a matter of hour once it's learned there's a matching heart donor. that means that somebody is brain dead and they're going to extract their heart and transport it to where the recipient is. he knew he would have to go to the hospital within hours and he's been aware of that possibility. obviously somebody who has secret service protection has a lot more aids at his side all the time. it wouldn't be the same for a typical american, but still, the process is very much the same. a

eric topol, who consulted with cheney in his first run for vp, asked publicly whether cheney was too to be given a heart saying "it would be interesting to find out how this all came about. was the match suitable for other individuals? will we ever find out or will this be kept under wraps. it's not that he shouldn't get a transplant, it's a question of who didn't get one." but cheney's wait for a heart is considered slightly longer than usual. most wait six months to a year. and it's not unique that somebody of cheney's age gets a heart transplant, but on average recipients are usually a bit younger. bianna? >> all right, david. and we want to bring in abc news senior health and medical editor dr. richard besser. great to see you, dr. besser. so i want to go back to what dr. topol said. he is just one doctor but he raised a question a lot of people are asking, is 71 too old for a heart transplant and should it have gone to a younger candidate? >> there used to be a hard age cutoff at 55 and some hospitals are still using 65, but i talked to two leading transplant surgeons last night

former vice-president cheney. has had a heart transplant according to a statement from his office at this hour. we are getting this in our news room. the family of the former vice-president does not know the identity of the donor and will be forever grateful for the life saving gift. former president obama is thankful to the doctors and other medical professionals and i know fairfax and george university hospital. we are learning of the heart transplant surge row and our correspondant mike emanuel is on the story for us. little details continue to come in and apparently, the former president has been on the cardiac transplant list for this donation for more than 20 months. and the family and he knew that this was coming and word that the operation happened and from all that i can see so far it looks successful. but we'll get more medical details as we move on here. >> we are two days away from the supreme court taking up one of the host approximate high cases. the obama health care law. it is a man date that peopl

cheney received the transplant yesterday. nbc's mike vicara starts us off tonight with the latest at the hospital. >> reporter: dick cheney remains here at the hospital after undergoing a heart transplant surgery early yesterday. we learned this after the fact from a statement from t family. it came as a surprise in that sense, but in another sense, not much of a surprise at all. the vice president has a history of no fewer than five heart attacks, the most recent one about two years ago. he was at george washington university hospital on that occasion and shortly after that, he was outfitted with what's called a left ventricular device. that's for people with end stage heart disease. he was put on a wait list for a heart transplant. just this past december, he reached the top of that list and yesterday he had the surgery. as far as we know, although we have not heard anything from the doctors or the cheney family since that statement last night where they thanked the now anonymous donor, they thanked the hospital staff and o

dick cheney waited 20 months. t.j. winnick, abc news, new york. >> i think that last stat is an important one. he waited far longer than the average person. people wanted to quickly speculate. he's the former vice president. maybe he got rushed up the list. clearly not. he waited. i think that's an important fact to remember. i am impressed anyone can survive five heart attacks. first at 37. now at 71. he's lucky to be with us at all. this could extend his life ten more years. >> used to be anyone over 55 couldn't. now the surgeons look at a whole if their kidney is in good shape -- >> if he's in shape and waited your time, it's yours. >> i don't have any issues with that. >> hard to argue with. >>> thousands rallied across the country yesterday in support of the trayvon martin case. this morning his parents are on the defensive after new information about their son's background was revealed. martin had been suspended from his miami high school for possessing marijuana and a series of potentially damaging tweets from h

well, the latest we have from former vice president cheney's office is the statement they put out last night saying that although the former vice president and his family do not know the identity of the donor, they'll be forever grateful for this life-saving gift. now, it's not uncommon, of course, for recipients of organs not to know who the donor is. i should mention we have a statement also put out last night by newt gingrich who is friends with former vice president cheney and he said, vice president cheney is in our thoughts and prayers tonight as he recovers from surgery. calista and hope his recovery is peaceful and wish him and his family all the best. now, i've spoken with hospital spokesperson this morning here, randi. they don't have any briefings to update us on his condition scheduled right now. but that could change at any moment and we'll be sure to let you guys know as soon as it does. >> we don't know when he might be released, right? it could be some time? >> reporter: that's right. it could be several weeks. we know from some of our research according to the internat

don, dick cheney is 71 years old.is story next hour. >> i was going to say, 71 years old, i mean, that's fairly young now, especially today's standards of living and that and what have you. did he have four or five -- he survived four or five heart attacks before? >> yeah. he's had them since such a young, young age. as you said, 71 very young, but this has been ongoing for the vice president throughout very much of his adult life. but as we've heard right now from his office, he seems to be recovering fairly well right now in a washington hospital. >> two breaking political news stories we're following along with my colleague here, mark preston. rick santorum has won the louisiana primary and also dick cheney recovering from a heart transplant right now. i'm don lemon. we'll see you back here at the top of the hour, when we follow up on both of these developing stories including the latest on the trayvon martin case. more "piers morgan" in just a moment. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right n

reacting to the house of former vice-president dick cheney heart transplant. it was breaking news last night and mr. cheney recovering in a hospital in virginia, the candidate sending well wishes to the former vp. more on thinks condition later on the fox report. strong words on president obama, and warning of tough punishment if the north goes ahead with a rocket launch last month. they had treed in exchange for help feeding a starving population, if the readers go ahead with the test, the aid for food could fall apart. as mr. obama meets the world leaders in south korea where he is at this hour how to talk nuclear weapons out of the hands of extremists. our wendall goler is with the president, and wendall the isolated nation next door is front and senior for the president of soul. >> north korea plans to launch a satellite and the rest of the world sees it as a poorly disguised missile test. president obama warned against it. >> to constitute a direct violation of his own commitments and its international obligations and moreover, it would only deepen north

of course, dick cheney has a long history of heart problems.e folks have questioned whether he got any special treatment, but he reportedly has been on a transplant waiting list for some 20 months. that's longer according to statistics than most patients who wait a year or less. is he also older than the traditional cut off age of 656789 doctors say recent advances gave the 71-year-old a good shot at survival. >> considering how risky this procedure is and all that's involved, stopping a heart, removing a heart. putting in another heart and starting it again. it's amazing that patients over 65 do as well as they do. >> but the risks have dropped considerably over the years. according to federal data, 88% of all heart recipients now survive at least a year after the transplant. three quarters live at least five years. and a little more than half are still alive a decade later. so doctors say it's reasonable that even at 71 former vice president cheney would undergo such an operation. >> his heart was badly damaged because of all the heart attack

just a reminder, dick cheney 71 years old, sent wit tonight wite news, mike emanuel. thank you very much. >> thank you, harris. >> if this vessel could talk, set adraft by japan's tsunami, they're calling it's a ghost ship, and it's floated on the high seas for more than a year. it just turned up. we'll tell you where. also, honoring our servicemen and women who did not come home from the war zones alive. details of a silent tribute that speaks so loudly from the heart. ♪ >> a bizarre development in the renewed search for a missing toddler in maine. about 100 people with tracking dogs spent the day looking for ayla reynolds in areas covered with snow when she was first reported missing three months ago. no new clues showed up today. ayla was 20 months old when her dad told police she vanished. police treating her disappearance as a crime. no one has been charged. while searchers found no signs of the little one, they made a discovery. they made the remains of a 53-year-old man, steven brandon, from the same town as ayla, waterville, reported missing back in 2004. foul

former vice president dick cheney is recovering from a heart transplant. the surgery was today at inova fairfax hospital in fall's church. the vice president is in intensive care and lauren demarco is live outside of the hospital with an update. lauren? >> reporter: it's unclear how long the former vice president will remain here at inova fairfax. the experts say the transplant patients are in intensive care for several days and in the hospital for up to about two weeks. he will likely be on immune suppressing medication for life and that is to ensure his body doesn't reject the new organ. mr. cheney is 71 years old and has quite the history when it comes to heart health n.2010, he had a left ventricular assist device for n stage heart failure and it's used to increase the amount of blood the heart is able to pump. for some patients, it can serve as a permanent treatment and apparently, it was determined not to be the case for mr. cheney and determined that he needed a cardiac transplant and he was on the list for a donor for more than 20 months. the forme

dick cheney is waiting for a heart. is it okay if we give your heart to dick cheney?t would you say 866-55-press, i know i am a bleeding heart liberal and i know what i am supposed to say. i am supposed to say my heart goes to the next person at the top of the list. i don't care who it is. but that's not what i think. i would say, no. i want it to go to somebody who has a young family and needs some more time. dick cheney has had a long life. i wouldn't say a good life. he's had a long life. and i would rather it go to somebody younger. that's my vote. >> i agree with you. >> you are a hard-hearted -- >> yeah. i won't disagree with that. it has less to do with who he is as a person because, let's face it, he is a pretty terrible guy. but the guy has had a long history of heart disease and heart problems. he has no heart beat as we know because of the contraption. >> that's inwhy he needs a heart? >> he is 71. he has such poor health. why would i want to waste my very strong heart? on that? >> and dan is busy on the phone. dan, yes or no? >> yes. yes. >> what? >> give

cheney has been at the top of the list since last december. in a statement tonight the cheney family says though they, quote, do not know the identity of the donor, they will be forever grateful for his lifesaving gift. chris? >> thank you, mike, reporting the former vice president had his first heart attack at the age of 37. he is now 71. >>> tonight the outrage is intensifying. another day of protests over the killing of an unarmed black teenager in florida. s hundreds gathered here, his lawyer says his client is a victim, too. >> no justice, no peace. >> reporter: at the wilson building in downtown dk hundreds rallied and called for an arrest in the shooting death of 17-year-old trayvon martin. >> trayvon will never be called a husband. he will never have the privilege of hearing a child call him daddy. a life with so much promise snatched from us. >> reporter: the teen was shot and killed by it this man, george zimmerman, a enabled watch captain who confronted the teen last month. zimmerman says he fired in self-defense. sanford police dec

a heart expert at washington hospital about cheney's chances of survival. tucker? >> good morning. after rain showers yesterday, we are looking at evening clearing and a nice start to your day. we'll have a lot of sunshine but cooler temperatures on the way. i'll have all the details on your forecast and julie wright has a look at traffic right after the break. q what's my secret for sunday lunch? my little helpers... and 100% natural french's yellow mustard. it has zero calories for me, and a taste my family loves. presenting woolite complete. it cleans your jeans and won't torture your tanks. woolite. long live your wardrobe. >>> quite ate sight down at the tidal basin on sunday. fireworks went off during the day as part of the national cherry blossom festival's opening care moany. thousands walked along the tidal basin taking in the beautiful losssomes. this year, we are celebrating 100 years since the first cherry blossom trees were planted. >> cooler weather did not impact the celebrations. it was still a fun-filled weekend at the cherry

cheney has a long history of heart problems.d five heart attacks starting back in 1978 when he was just 37 years old. we know that back in 2001 he had a pacemaker implanted and he was also hospitalized more recently in june of 2010 when he had what's called a left ventricular assist device implanted. these lvads as they're called are common precursers to a heart transplant. they help the heart pump but meant as a temporary bridge/fix so those are just two of the many surgeries and issues he's had over the year, randi. >> any word on when he might leave the hospital? >> reporter: unclear at this point. from what we can tell in terms of our research on heart transplants and the recovery time it takes up to several weeks, of course, you know, according to the international heart and lung transplant association cheney at 71 is on the upper end of heart transplant recipient, the vast majority of people who get transplant all over the world are in their 50s and s certainly his age could be a factor in the recovery time, randi. >> all

how long did cheney go? really? okay.uld someone get me a list of all of the interns' blood types? we'll be right back. [cheers and applause] [cheers an] >> stephen: welcome back, everybody. folks, i don't like to eat and run. that's why i do all my eating on my elyptical machine. this is "thought for food." ♪ folks, whenever i am fooding or being fudded, i want to be on the cutting edge of sitting perfectly still while food is brought near my mouth.ççó so, i was thrilled to learn that there's a new company proposing the delivery of tacos via unmanned drone helicopters. [ laughter ] and no, you're not dreaming. [ laughter ] the name of the company that will bringing you fresh tacos by helicopter? tacocopter. [ laughter ] at long last. i cannot tell you how many times a taco stand has refused to deliver to me, just because i'm halfway up a k-2, or stranded on the roof of a farmhouse in a flooded valley. but thanks to the imagineers at tacocopter, now wherever i am, by sending my cell phone's gps coordnates i can call in a

cheney's doctor said that he had exerted no special influence to receive this heart. and the system, the donor system could not been manipulated. is he right about that? >> i think so. particularly given the fact that he waited 20 months on a vad or a heart pump for this transplant. that's longer than the typical person waits. that's longer, it's quite variable across the country. but in our region, that would be a very long wait. in our program, that would be a very long wait. we would probably have a person like that transplanted... see them transplanted in 6 to 12 months depending upon other issues. i think that's unlikely. to have happened. >> warner: the head of the organ donor network said today or said over the weekend that now fully a third... no, 15% of those on the list, the wait list for a heart transplant are now 65 and older. do you expect that to increase, given as baby boomers age and as this becomes more widely available? >> i think that's true. i think the vice president is the classic example of what happens with cardiovascular disease today. he has

cheney has a long history of cardiovascular issues and has survived five heart attacks.s recovering in the intensive care unit of a hospital in falls church, virginia. his assistant says he has been on the cardiac transplant list for more than 20 months now. neither cheney nor his family know the identity of the donor but say they will be forever

former vice-president dick cheney gets a heart.months to get a new heart on the heart transplant list. the latest on his recovery. >> dave: and rick santorum scooping up more delegates with the louisiana win. what seals the deal. does it have a big impact on the g.o.p. race? we'll break it down for you coming up. >> clayton: want to see if he had a strike there. >> dave: a turkey, my friend. >> clayton: plus, a democratic governor from montana, but doesn't see eye to eye with the obama administration on the pipeline. why he wants it approved and approved now. "fox & friends" hour two starts right now. ♪ >> good morning, everybody, and it's a busy news day here and we start with a fox news alert at this hour, as we just mentioned former vice-president dick cheney is recovering in a virginia hospital this morning after receiving a heart transplant and an aide says the surgery was successful. as you remember, he has a long history of cardiovascular problems and suffered the first of five heart attacks at 37 years old and been on the h

dick cheney had a heart transplant saturday according to a statement released by his office. he is recovering in falls church va. he has a long history of vascular problems, suffering his first of five heart attacks in 1978 when he was just 37. 10 years later he had bypass surgery and two subsequent angioplasties. in 2001, he had a pacemaker implanted in his chest. in recent years his health deteriorated. he started to experience increasing heart failure. in 2010, he was admitted to a hospital in washington suffering from chest pains. docter said it was his fifth heart attack. that summer, he had at surgery again, to implant a device next to his heart. it would help pump blood through his body. doctors cautioned the pump was a temporary fix a bridge to keep him alive until he could get a new heart. after nearly two years on the cardiac transplant list, the 71-rolled cheney has a new chance at life from an unidentified donor. >> there are several new developments in the trayvon martin's case. he was the teenager shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer. they knew what

cheney has a long history of cardiovascular issues and has survived five heart attacks.s recovering in the intensive care unit of a hospital in falls church, virginia. his assistant says he has been on the cardiac transplant list for more than 20 months now. neither cheney nor his family know the identity of the donor but say they will be forever grateful for this life-saving gift. there you go. stay tuned for more on our breaking news there. i'm don lemon at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. thank you so much. we appreciate you joining us tonight. at 10:00 p.m. eastern a new law using dna offers hope to crime victims. again, that's 10:00 p.m. eastern. we hope you learned something here in this case of t

will they have a chance to meet the cheney's?> witc can't confirm we facilitated this process. >> okay. >> they're one of 58 organizations. this could have come from any of those. the process is tapeically, you know, the person, the individual dies at a hospital and their family will authorize the organ donation or made themselves a registered donor at the dmv, we will discuss that with the families and facilitate that, a surgical removal of the organs for transplant. >> will they get an opportunity to meet? >> it's possible if the donor family decides to come forward and wants to initiate the contact. >> it's up to the dean or family? >> it is. >> john ogden, thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >>> >>> and not to the cam pain trail where mitt romney is trying to wrap up the gop presidential nomination and there is some signs the fight might be causing some to reach their boiling point. >> reporter: the pressure is on as rick santorum -- santorum lashes out at a reporter on the campaign trail and calling mitt

dick cheney got the ultimate gift a new heart on saturday. he is 71 years old and has had five heart attacks. some folks say they wish him well, but were surprised he would be a transplant candidate. >> it seems like he is a little too old. >> i am not surprised. >> it's probably a varies from person to person. people are healthy or not at different ages. >> age is not the only factor doctors looked at. >> there are some patients in their 70's that are otherwise doing exceptionally well. we feel they should not be denied access. sometimes, there are patients in their 40's, that have such severe malfunction they would not be wonderful transplant candidates. >> dick cheney's spokesperson said he had been on a waiting list for two years. he has a history of heart disease. what we know about his condition comes from a statement from former president george w. bush. he has been in touch with the family and he is happy to hear the surgery went well. we are live in the falls church. >> maryland state police are investigating whether one of their own