Former President Bill Clinton is facing fresh questions about his health after he and his wife, Hillary, were photographed in the Hamptons with a portable defibrillator, just two months after the 79-year-old was seen stumbling on a New York City sidewalk.
Images from Thursday showed the couple boarding a private plane with what appeared to be a Propaq MD Air Medical Bag, a transport monitor and defibrillator used in emergencies. Clinton, wearing a blue jacket and tan hat, was escorted by security, while Hillary wore a black sweatshirt over a blue outfit.
The UK’s Daily Mail was first to report the sighting.
“The sighting immediately reignited concerns about the ex-president’s fragile condition, given his long history of heart trouble,” the New York Post added.
Clinton has dealt with major health issues for more than 20 years, including a quadruple bypass and several hospitalizations, though he has never publicly disclosed using a portable defibrillator.
His medical history is extensive. In 2004, three years after leaving the White House, he underwent emergency quadruple bypass surgery at Manhattan’s Presbyterian Hospital to clear nearly complete arterial blockages. Doctors said he narrowly avoided a massive heart attack.
The following year, he was hospitalized again for surgery to repair a collapsed lung, which physicians attributed to scar tissue from the bypass.
Five years later, Clinton was rushed to a New York hospital with chest pains, where doctors inserted two stents to open a clogged artery. Afterward, the former president adopted a mostly vegan diet, lost weight, and credited the lifestyle change with giving him a “second chance.”
His health troubles, however, continued. In October 2021, he was hospitalized in California with a urological infection that developed into sepsis, requiring IV antibiotics before his release, The Post added.
Clinton’s latest health scare came last December, when he spent Christmas Eve at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital with a fever before being discharged the next day, according to his spokesperson.
He was also spotted stumbling on a New York City sidewalk during a book tour stop with Hillary, at one point grabbing a pole for support as his left leg buckled.
The recent sighting of a portable defibrillator is likely to fuel speculation about whether his condition is worsening. Such devices are used to monitor patients at high risk of cardiac arrest and deliver emergency shocks if needed.
Though tabloid rumors have speculated about conditions such as Parkinson’s, no credible outlet has confirmed any such diagnosis. Clinton’s doctors and aides have limited their comments to his past cardiac and infection-related treatments.
The Clintons have also remained in the political spotlight this summer for reasons unrelated to health. The House Oversight Committee earlier this month subpoenaed Bill and Hillary as part of its investigation into the government’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein.
Neither has been accused of wrongdoing, but both are scheduled to testify this fall — Hillary on Oct. 9 and Bill on Oct. 14. In his 2024 memoir, Bill acknowledged flying on Epstein’s jet but said he was unaware of the financier’s crimes.
“The bottom line is, even though it allowed me to visit the work of my foundation, traveling on Epstein’s plane was not worth the years of questioning afterward,” Clinton wrote. “I wish I had never met him.”
At 79, Bill Clinton is the third-oldest surviving president, trailing 82-year-old Joe Biden and George W. Bush, who is about seven weeks older than his predecessor.