US: The 78-year-old man accidentally shot by vice-president Dick Cheney has had a minor heart attack caused by birdshot lodged in his heart.
Doctors in Corpus Christi, Texas, said that Harry Whittington, a prominent Republican lawyer, had suffered a heartbeat irregularity caused by a pellet and had undergone a cardiac catheterisation.
Mr Cheney shot Mr Whittington in the face, neck and chest on Saturday afternoon, when both men were hunting quail on a Texas ranch. Mr Whittington has left intensive care but doctors said yesterday that he is unlikely to leave hospital for another week.
A Texas parks and wildlife department report on the accident said that Mr Whittington was retrieving a downed bird and stepped out of the hunting line he was sharing with Mr Cheney.
"Another covey was flushed and Cheney swung on a bird and fired, striking Whittington in the face, neck and chest at approximately 30 yards," the report said.
The department gave both men warning citations for failing to buy a $7 stamp allowing them to shoot upland game birds and the report said that "hunter judgment" was the main factor contributing to the accident.
The White House has suggested that the accident was Mr Whittington's fault, but some hunting experts say that the vice-president bore the main responsibility to look before he shot.
US ambassador to Switzerland Pamela Willeford told The Dallas Morning News that Mr Cheney did not realise that Mr Whittington had picked up a bird and caught up with them and she praised the vice-president's shooting skills.
"He's a great shot. He's very safety conscious. This is something that unfortunately was a bad accident and when you're with a group like that, he's safe or safer than all the rest of us."
Before the news of Mr Whittington's heart attack yesterday afternoon, the White House sought to make light of the hunting accident.
White House spokesman Scott McLennan quipped that the orange school colours of the University of Texas championship football team that was visiting the White House should not be confused for hunter's safety wear.
"The orange that they're wearing is not because they're concerned that the vice-president may be there," he said.
Mr McLennan faced angry questions on Monday about why it took 20 hours for news of Mr Cheney's accident to reach the public. Instead of making an official statement, the vice-president told the woman who owned the ranch where the accident took place to inform a small local paper on Sunday morning.