Bill Clinton back home following treatment for infection

Makini Brice and Tom Palmer

3 years ago

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, accompanied by his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, walks out of University of California Irvine Medical Center, in Orange, California, U.S. October 17, 2021. (REUTERS/David Swanson)

(NewsNation Now) — Former President Bill Clinton is back home in New York after being treated for a urological infection.

The former president was discharged Sunday around 8 a.m. from the University of California Irvine Medical Center.

When asked how he was feeling, he gave a thumbs-up. He and Hilary then boarded a black SUV and departed in a motorcade escorted by the California Highway Patrol.

According to Dr. Alpesh N. Amin, who has been overseeing the team of doctors treating Clinton, “his fever and white blood cell count are normalized, and he will return home to New York to finish his course of antibiotics.”

The 75-year-old, who served as president from 1993 to 2001, entered the University of California Irvine Medical Center on Tuesday evening after suffering from fatigue.

Clinton spokesperson Angel Urena said Saturday the former president was making great progress.

“He is in great spirits and has been spending time with family, catching up with friends and watching college football,” Urena said in a statement posted on Twitter.

Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, was at the hospital on Saturday.

Since his admission to the hospital’s intensive care unit, he has received fluids and antibiotics, his doctors said.

Former first lady and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives at the University of California Irvine Medical Center in Orange, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021. Former President Clinton spent a fourth night at the Southern California hospital where he is recovering from an infection but is expected to be released Sunday after making great progress, a spokesman said. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Clinton, who was in California to attend a dinner and reception for his foundation in Los Angeles County, has dealt with health problems in the past. He had a quadruple bypass operation in 2004 and a procedure to open a blocked artery in 2010.

The Democrat served two four-year terms in the White House, overseeing strong economic growth while engaging in bruising political battles with congressional Republicans.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives impeached him in 1998 on charges arising from his sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, but Clinton was acquitted by the Senate.

He was only the second U.S. president to be impeached. Republican President Donald Trump would later become the third when he was impeached twice during his term.

Clinton, a former Arkansas governor, defeated an incumbent president, Republican George H.W. Bush, in 1992 and then beat longtime Republican Senator Bob Dole to win re-election in 1996.