Quayle Returns to Hospital for Appendectomy

Former Vice President Dan Quayle, who was treated last month for blood clots in his lungs, was back in the hospital Tuesday to have his appendix removed.

Quayle, 47, who is scheduled for surgery today or Thursday, is expected to announce soon whether he is running for the Republican nomination for President in 1996.

Doctors discovered that Quayle’s appendix was swollen during a checkup and in regular tests after he was hospitalized a month ago for the blood clots.

“He feels fine. The bottom line is, the appendix is enlarged. It needs to come out and he decided to do it now,” Anne Hathaway, executive director of Quayle’s political action committee, Issues ‘96, said Tuesday.

Quayle was admitted Monday to Indiana University Medical Center.

He was quoted in a committee statement as saying that he “just wants the thing out. I don’t need it anyway.”

The appendix, a narrow, finger-shaped tube branching off the large intestine, has no known function.

The statement said that he was “almost fully recovered” from the earlier problem but that because he was being treated with blood thinners, doctors would have to wait for his blood to return to normal and there would be a slightly longer delay than usual before the appendix could be removed.

Quayle had been taking blood thinners to prevent new clots while his body’s natural enzymes broke down those in his lungs.

Such clots, called pulmonary embolisms, often strike people who are sedentary for long periods. Doctors believe long plane rides probably contributed to Quayle’s problem.

Quayle is expected to be hospitalized for a week.