Doctor May Have Given ‘Miserable’ Schroeder the Flu
Artificial heart patient William Schroeder has caught the flu and his physician, Dr. William DeVries, may have given it to him, hospital officials said today.
“His vital signs are normal but he feels miserable,” Humana Hospital Audubon spokesman Robert Irvine said. Schroeder’s temperature was usually normal but sometimes jumped to 102 degrees, he said.
DeVries, the surgeon who implanted the world’s second permanent artificial heart in Schroeder, is also suffering from the flu and said he may have been the person who gave the sickness to Schroeder.
“Who gave it to him is hard to say,” Irvine said. “DeVries can’t be sure he was the one but it was obviously someone who came in the room. . . . Schroeder’s children have been in there and they have been sick as well.”
Irvine said the people who visited Schroeder did not know they had the flu at the time.
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