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Did Dick Cheney get a heart transplant? Former vice president's health history explored after his death

As Dick Cheney passes away, here's a look at the health battles he fought during his lifetime.
posted by Akanksha Mishra
Tuesday 11/4/2025 at 8:30AM EST
  • WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 29: Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney (L) refuses to answer press questions as he leaves the Senate Republican policy luncheon with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) (R) at the U.S. Capitol November 29, 2011 in Washington, DC. The Senate Democratic and Republican caucuses met separately behind closed doors to discuss the annual $226 billion Defense Authorization legislation. The White House has threatened to veto the military spending bill over parts of the bill requiring that al-Qaeda members captured on US soil be held by the military and not civilian authorties. Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said there was a robust debate on the detainee issue during the GOP luncheon, but Cheney did not join the discussion. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
    WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 29: Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney (L) refuses to answer press questions as he leaves the Senate Republican policy luncheon with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) (R) at the U.S. Capitol November 29, 2011 in Washington, DC. The Senate Democratic and Republican caucuses met separately behind closed doors to discuss the annual $226 billion Defense Authorization legislation. The White House has threatened to veto the military spending bill over parts of the bill requiring that al-Qaeda members captured on US soil be held by the military and not civilian authorties. Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said there was a robust debate on the detainee issue during the GOP luncheon, but Cheney did not join the discussion. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

    On Monday, November 3, former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney passed away at the age of 84. The news of Cheney's death was announced in a statement issued by his family on November 4,  which read:

    "Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing. We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man."

    The statement also revealed that Cheney's death was caused by complications of pneumonia, cardiac and vascular disease. 

    According to Stanford Medicine, Cheney underwent a heart transplant in 2012. Two years after the transplant, the former vice president co-wrote a book with his cardiologist, Jonathan Reiner, titled Heart: An American Medical Odyssey.

    In an interview about the book (published on Stanford Medicine's website), Dick Cheney spoke about his transplant experience, saying:

    "It's the gift of life itself... After you've been through all of the procedures and so forth and then anticipating death and finding your life has been extended that it's miraculous... You have a sense that after you've been through all of that, everything else is small."

    Elsewhere in the interview, Cheney also mentioned that after years of facing life-threatening health issues, he was no longer afraid of dying, adding:


    "I concluded that sooner or later, I was going to run out of technology, run out of new innovations and developments in the area of heart medicine... I  thought about it, I guess, I was at peace. It was not painful. It wasn't surprising or frightening. I had come to that point where I fully expected that I had lived a wonderful and remarkable life."

    Dick Cheney had a long history of heart issues 

    Dick Cheney had a long history of heart problems, suffering his first heart attack in 1978, when he was just 37. He used to smoke up until that point, but the attack made him quit smoking for good. 

    Six years later, a second heart attack followed. In 1988, when Dick Cheney suffered a third heart attack, he underwent a quadruple bypass surgery to clear his clogged arteries. 

    While the surgery proved effective for a more than a decade, Cheney suffered another "very slight" heart attack - as the doctors termed it - in 2000. Doctors performed an angioplasty on him to open a clogged artery. 

    After recovering from the surgery, Dick Cheney was determined to lead a healthier life. He not only started eating healthier but also spent 30 minutes on the treadmill every morning. 

    Despite it all, his heart faced a blockage in the same artery merely 100 days later, leading to another angioplasty. In 2001, doctors inserted a pacemaker into his chest. 

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    TOPICS: Dick Cheney


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