Docs Replace Cheney's Heart Implant

Doctors have replaced Dick Cheney's defibrillator "without complication," a spokeswoman for the VP says. A checkup last month revealed that the battery in the 6-year-old cardiac implant was running low, and yesterday doctors performed a routine procedure to swap out the power source without affecting the wires that connect to the heart, the AP reports.

The defibrillator, about the size of a sports watch, is inserted between the flesh and muscle of the upper chest and corrects fast or abnormal heartbeats with an electric pulse. The four-time heart attack survivor smiled and waved as he left after spending 4 hours at George Washington University Hospital. "The vice president feels fine," the spokeswoman said. (More surgery stories.)