LOS ANGELES : Ferraro Will Get Device to Regulate Heartbeat
City Council President John Ferraro will have a device installed to regulate a rapid heartbeat and may undergo heart bypass surgery, the councilman said Thursday.
The 67-year-old lawmaker said he will enter Good Samaritan Hospital on Sunday for the elective surgery. An aide said that a defibrillator will be implanted on Monday, adding that at that time Ferraro may undergo bypass surgery.
“I had the same operation 13 years ago. I guess you could say this is my 100,000-mile checkup,” Ferraro said.
An implantable defibrillator treats rapid heartbeat by delivering small electric shocks to slow the heart rhythm. In April, doctors tried unsuccessfully to install the defibrillator to stabilize the councilman’s heartbeat and augment medication, Ferraro aide Erin Egge said. The defibrillator was removed when it failed to regulate the heart rhythm adequately, Egge said.
Ferraro is expected to be hospitalized from one to two weeks and resume a light schedule in early August.
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