Bill Clinton hospitalised with fever but in good spirits, spokesperson says

File picture of former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images via AFP

Former President Bill Clinton was admitted Monday (December 23, 2024) to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington after developing a fever.

The 78-year-old was hospitalized in the “afternoon for testing and observation,” Angel Urena, Mr. Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, said in a statement.

“He remains in good spirits and deeply appreciates the excellent care he is receiving,” Urena said.

Mr. Clinton, a Democrat who served two terms as President from January 1993 until January 2001, addressed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer, and campaigned ahead of November’s election for the unsuccessful White House bid of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

In the years since Mr. Clinton left the White House, he’s faced some health scares.

In 2004, he underwent quadruple bypass surgery after experiencing prolonged chest pains and shortness of breath. Mr. Clinton returned to the hospital for surgery for a partially collapsed lung in 2005, and in 2010 he had a pair of stents implanted in a coronary artery.

Mr. Clinton responded by embracing a largely vegan diet that saw him lose weight and report improved health.

In 2021, the former President was hospitalized for six days in California while being treated for an infection that was unrelated to COVID-19, when the pandemic was still near its height.

An aide to the former President said then that Mr. Clinton had a urological infection that spread to his bloodstream but was on the mend and never went into septic shock, a potentially life-threatening condition. The aide said Mr. Clinton was in an intensive care section of the hospital that time but wasn’t receiving ICU care.