In an upcoming 60 Minutes interview to promote his new book, Heart: An American Medical Odyssey, former vice-president Dick Cheney reveals that he had his doctor disable the wireless function on a defibrillator implanted in his chest during his 2007 heart transplant. Why? Because he was worried that terrorists would hack into the electrical device and use it to kill him. Though the idea of remotely sending a fatal shock to someone’s heart might sound cuckoo to some, interviewer Sanjay Gupta (himself an M.D.) points out that a recent episode of the documentary fictional TV drama Homeland “showed just how it could be done.”
“I was aware of the danger, if you will, that existed,” Cheney says after being shown the Showtime clip, “But I found it credible because I knew from the experience we’d had and the necessity for adjusting my own device that it was an accurate portrayal of what was possible.” Perhaps Cheney can have a second career advising screenwriters.
