Could Russert's Death Have Been Prevented?

Tim Russert Recently Passed A Stress Test, But It Couldn't Predict His Heart Attack

(CBS)  It's the question of the day: How can somebody pass a stress test and then, weeks later, drop dead of a heart attack?

During a stress test, a patient exercises to raise their heart rate. They flunk when a clogged artery prevents adequate blood flow from reaching the heart muscle. But it takes a large blockage to do that, CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports.

"But the risk of heart attack actually relates to smaller blockages that don't limit blood flow but are at risk for breaking open and having a blood clot suddenly block off the artery, as was the case here for Tim Russert," said Dr. Christopher Cannon.

In Russert's case, cholesterol built up in the linings of his arteries - not enough to affect the stress test, but enough to leave a fatty deposit that eventually burst, causing a clot that blocked the artery. About 850 Americans each day die from this condition, many without even making it to the ER. That comes to over 300,000 a year.

Clearly, a normal stress test doesn't mean you won't have a heart attack. So why do it at all?

"Well, stress tests are important to look if someone has significant limitations of blood flow to heart - if they do, then they need angiography, stenting or bypass surgery," Cannon said.

But it's not all about finding blockages after they've occurred. It's about preventing them from occurring in the first place. That's why it's key to lower risk factors such as:

High cholesterol

Hypertension

Diabetes

Smoking

Lack of exercise

Obesity

"These risk factors are real; it's not just something that we talk about. And controlling them can also help prevent heart attacks," Cannon said.

... And help prevent sudden death.


© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Add a Comment See all 47 Comments

by roach9703 June 16, 2008 7:43 PM PDT

It was Tim''s time to go ( period ).

Reply to this comment

by eroosevelt08 June 16, 2008 9:46 PM PDT

I have sympathy for Mr. Russert''s family, but I cannot excuse his sexist treatment of Senator Clinton throughout the primary season.

Reply to this comment

by June 16, 2008 9:51 PM PDT

The man was very talented but he trusted the medical community with his health care instead of taking it into his own hands. He could have made nutritional changes that would have made a difference. I feel for his family.

Reply to this comment

by sunillala June 16, 2008 10:00 PM PDT

ERoosevelt08 - there is a time and a place for everything. Let it go. Don''t carry your grudges and your hate into death.

Grow up. Every single thing in life does not revolve around the democratic primaries.

Have some decency.

Reply to this comment

by cdfoxtrot June 16, 2008 10:13 PM PDT

"About 850 Americans each day die from this condition, many without even making it to the ER. That comes to over 300,000 a year."

300,000 a year equates to 100 9/11''s. Every year. Just curious why the money being thrown away on the illegal war isn''t being directed at something like this, that is actually killing people in big numbers, unlike "terrorism".

Reply to this comment

by jpgil9 June 17, 2008 12:01 AM PDT

We will miss this Giant of a Man and a Very Good Human Being. My Prayers go out to His Lovely Wife, Son, and Father-in Law. God Bless Them and God Bless Tim

Reply to this comment

by jpgil9 June 17, 2008 12:02 AM PDT

We will miss this Giant of a Man and a Very Good Human Being. My Prayers go out to His Lovely Wife, Son, and Father-in Law. God Bless Them and God Bless Tim

Reply to this comment

by truth_police June 17, 2008 1:10 AM PDT

What happened to Russert (dying) is what will happen to every single human currently living on the planet. Because we are alive and he is dead, we who are alive tend to erroneously believe that what happened to him (dying) would not have happened, if ....if....if... In reality, death is an inevitability for all of us. When our moment comes it will always be ''too soon'' ... ''too aweful'' ... ''too painful'' ... ''too unfair'' for us to contemplate NOW. Death is always delivered by a medical-biological malfunction of some kind. The only remaining question is "when?" Since most humans do not frequently reside in the ''Here & Now'' the ''when'' question looms large. Whenever it happens, it will be in the ''Here & Now'' and everyone else will express utter tumultuous shock and surprise that such a thing could happen.

Reply to this comment

by mr_totten June 17, 2008 1:15 AM PDT

NO!

Reply to this comment

by soshljustic June 17, 2008 2:52 AM PDT

58 is to young to have a "time to go" so I wholeheartedly disagree with that thinking now, as I did when my father died the same way at his "time" of 55. This is just another reason to come up with less invasive and harmful ways to measure plaque build-up on vessel walls before a chunk breaks off and leads to an MI or Stroke. A bleed is a bleed is a bleed is not true. some have a decent quality of life after, some need never occur thru preventive measures as I know,working cardiac care in the 80''s - no more of that since I had a partial lobectomy in 2002 for 35-50 seizures a day--every threat to life can be mediated thru medicine--only need to keep coming up with the how to''s thru research and proper diagnostic tools.

Reply to this comment

by wblanchet June 17, 2008 3:45 AM PDT

Tim was a champion of the truth, here is some sad truth!

Tim Russert died from his first symptom of coronary artery disease as do 150,000 Americans each year. It touches almost every family. It is America''s most underreported tragedy and it cries for more exposure! Especially since it is an unnecessary tragedy caused by ignorance on the part of physicians as well as the public!.

First an indictment of the current standard:

Using standard risk factor stratification, we will find only about 40% of individuals at risk for heart attacks

Of those identified as being at risk, less than half are treated at all and fewer than one third are treated to goal

Treating patients to goal using current National Cholesterol Education Panel guidelines (NCEP-III) will prevent optimistically 40% of heart attacks.

Stress tests would be normal in over 80% of patients who will have a heart attack this year.

Stents cause more heart attacks and coronary death than does medical management alone(9,10).

What we should be doing:

EBT coronary Calcium Imaging is an inexpensive, safe, low radiation procedure that looks at the calcium contained within the plaque in coronary arteries. EBT coronary calcium imaging will identify over 95% of individuals at risk for heart attacks and treating to a goal of coronary calcium stability will prevent over 90% of the heart attacks in the group treated regardless of how much coronary disease they have at the beginning of treatment.

Reply to this comment

by grammawhamma June 17, 2008 5:10 AM PDT

I don''t wish bad things to happen to anyone. Mr Russert was too young to die.


By the looks of him, AL Gore will be next.

Reply to this comment

by lorenzen6 June 17, 2008 8:33 AM PDT

It may be that if NBC had bought the heart defribillator and used it, russert would still be alive - all companies were advised to buy these but apparently NBC did not. Many people are saved if they can have a "heart re-start" in this type of situation. Americans need someone to believe in that is a national figure and russert fulfilled that role.

Reply to this comment

by missybelle-2009 June 17, 2008 8:53 AM PDT

58 is to young to have a "time to go" so I wholeheartedly disagree with that thinking now
Posted by soshljustic at 02:52 AM : Jun 17, 2008


We can any of us go at any time, just be grateful for the time you have had, and every day is just a gift. Disagree all you want, but you can''t change it, right?

Reply to this comment

by rational_1 June 17, 2008 9:26 AM PDT

I don''''t wish bad things to happen to anyone. Mr Russert was too young to die.
By the looks of him, AL Gore will be next.
Posted by GrammaWhamma at 05:10 AM : Jun 17, 2008

Ya never know. Like someone else already noted, George Burns lived to over a hundred, smoking those stogies like a fiend. The points the article makes about cholesterol, exercise, diabetes, etc. - on average. However, you can''t say anything definitive about any one person. Remember Jim Fixx, the guy who helped popularize the running phenomenon? Dropped dead of a massive heart attack at 52. You just never know...

Reply to this comment

by lovemy3boys June 17, 2008 9:38 AM PDT

Some people don''t make it out of the womb and children die every day...it''s sad, but true. We''re not all going to live to a "ripe old age" no matter how well we take care of ourselves.

I''m not saying that you don''t have to take care of yourself..if you do, your QUALITY of life will be better, but the QUANTITY was predetermined by God at your conception.

There''s an old saying, "Eat Right, Exercise, Die Anyway."

Reply to this comment

by walker1209 June 17, 2008 10:25 AM PDT

To answer the question - NO, it was his time to go; it is as simple as that. I don''t believe that people die before their time. That being said, Mr. Russert was privileged to have great medical care and access to some of the best physicians in this country. That is a lot more than many hard working Americans have.
Approximately 830 Americans are stricken by this condition everyday, that is more than 200,000 a year. While this is a sad event for Mr. Russert''s family, loved ones, and colleagues, I am not sure why this has continued to be National news; is there nothing of importance going on in the country, world?

The death of this man only reinforces what I already believe; that we should live each day to the fullest, make a contribution to society in whichever way we can, treat our fellow humans as that, humans, and tell our families/loved ones each day that we love them. Tomorrow is not promised we can not undo what was done yesterday.

Reply to this comment

by talkingham June 17, 2008 11:01 AM PDT

Well after 30 years of heart specialists suggesting men stop eating butter in favor artery clogging trans fat loaded margarines it''s hard to tell how many men and women have died from the low-fat anti-animal fats edible oil lobby that owns half of Congress.

Do you realize it took a quarter of a century since nutritionist Mary Enig''s testimony about transfats was cut from the Congressional record for this travesty to be revealed.

There are quite a few people being killed by these "anti" cholesterol drugs that cause the plaque which is actually plugging gaps in many people''s artery walls and heart walls. When you remove the plaque you get a rupture or blockage.

The "low-fat" rancid edible vegetable oils industry is doing a great job.

It''s amazing how many incredibly fat people you see eating all this low fat slop.

Reply to this comment

by oktexchic June 17, 2008 11:28 AM PDT

One report I read said he Russert died due to high cholesterol. Yet I listen to experts who say the cholesterol is not the problem.

GrammaWhamma,
you seem to know a lot about this .. where did you get your information? I''m trying to help my mom be protected, but she listens to her doctors who have her on all kinds of meds, including Lipitor for cholesterol.

Reply to this comment

by georgew1956 June 17, 2008 11:30 AM PDT

leave it to cbs to carie on the pain just to get a story on the wire , this is scum reporting.

Reply to this comment

by gwagener June 17, 2008 12:07 PM PDT

What I want to know is if he could have been revived if they had a portable defibrillator or if someone had done CPR on him. Sure, if he had lost weight and exercised more he might have lived longer, but the question not addressed is, "Could adequate emergency medical treatment have kept him alive?"

Reply to this comment

by credibility2 June 17, 2008 12:09 PM PDT

What hasn''t been fully explored with the sudden death of Russert was all of the stress in the weeks leading up to his death. His son graduated from college. He placed his father in an assisted living home. He was traveling and vacationing heartily in Italy with his wife and son; the trip probably also included dining on perhaps less than healthy cuisine, given his health issues. He returns home one day ahead of doing the videotaping of his weekly program, presumably with no proper rest and recovery from the long cramped flight and acclimation to the time difference. Russert clearly was pushing himself beyond reasonableness and wasn''t giving himself sufficient recovery time and at a healthy pace. Work is fine, but when combined with other tangential factors, it''s not worth the stress and pressure some of us place ourselves under. All of this shows too that Russert was trying to do too much in too confined a space of time. I think his stress and his work contributed immensely to his too early a demise.

Reply to this comment

by oktexchic June 17, 2008 12:11 PM PDT

talkingham ... how do you know so much about this ... what is your source?

Reply to this comment

by gwagener June 17, 2008 12:12 PM PDT

Several posts suggest it was his time to go. You cannot possibly know that. lorenzen6 is right. A defibrillator can revive some people in cardiac arrest. I do not know if Russert could have been saved by a defibrillator, or if someone had done CPR on him. The article does not say.

Reply to this comment

by edwzar June 17, 2008 12:13 PM PDT

Please people. The time has passed for a question such as this... Let''s remember him for who he was and how he touched soo so many of us.. God Speed Tim!!

Reply to this comment

by jerr11 June 17, 2008 1:07 PM PDT

Good question!

Could the Iraq war have been prevented?

Why didn''t Russert ask the hard questions?

Was he intimidated by the neocons like the rest of the spineless press?

Shouldn''t his program have be renamed "Meet the Neocon Propagandists?"

Reply to this comment

by talkingham June 17, 2008 1:08 PM PDT

I got started looking into this oil/fats mess back when I started a low-carb regime about 12 years ago before it was a fad.

Turns out that all this corn, soy and numerous other veggie oils have some pretty lousy characteristics, the least appetizing of which is the fact that they go rancid incredibly fast.

There is great reading on the subject of animal fats versus the edible oils industry at the Weston A Price Foundation web site, which includes articles by Mary Enig and others who disagree with many aspects of nutrition that have have been marketed to us under the name of low fats. Really nice to have a perspective that the bought and sold news media will never provide.

A friend of mine recently nearly died from a clot caused by one of these cholesterol reducing drugs, unfortunately the news media are too busy selling these drugs to ask any real questions about the philosophy and lack of any viable data to really support their use.

Most of the fats data in this country is totally skewed by the fact that trans fats were never broken into a separate category in any of the many studies that are now used in Public Health policy, no accident since the edible oils industry owns half of Congress. Can u say Archer Daniels Midland Corp?

Reply to this comment

by mrright5 June 17, 2008 1:30 PM PDT

Could Russert''s Death Have Been Prevented?

If he had done his job and asked tough questions about 9/11 instead of being a 9/11 gate keeper.

If he had asked the tough questions he would''ve gotten fired and he could''ve walked away from the BS job he had he''d still be alive.

Dan Rather is.

Reply to this comment

by talkingham June 17, 2008 1:32 PM PDT

Here''s a little excerpt from the Weston A Price site about cholesterol studies- kinda interesting:
The problem with the 40 years of NHLBI-sponsored research on lipids, cholesterol and heart disease was that it had not produced many answers%u2014at least not many answers that the NHLBI was pleased with. The ongoing Framingham Study found that there was virtually no difference in coronary heart disease "events" for individuals with cholesterol levels between 205 mg/dL and 294 mg/dL%u2014the vast majority of the US population. Even for those with extremely high cholesterol levels%u2014up to almost 1200 mg/dL, the difference in CHD events compared to those in the normal range was trivial.29 This did not prevent Dr. William Kannel, then Framingham Study Director, from making claims about the Framingham results. "Total plasma cholesterol" he said, "is a powerful predictor of death related to CHD." It wasn''t until more than a decade later that the real findings at Framingham were published%u2014without fanfare%u2014in the Archives of Internal Medicine, an obscure journal. "In Framingham, Massachusetts," admitted Dr. William Castelli, Kannel''s successor "the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower people''s serum cholesterol. . . we found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories weighed the least and were the most physically active

Reply to this comment

by komoncents June 17, 2008 3:27 PM PDT

May this man rest in peace. I''m geussing the guilt from mouthing the party line, or lies, as I''m sure he knew full well of, contributed to the stress he was carrying.

It must be tough to be in the media these days with the shots being called by the controllers at the top preventing "real truth" from reaching Americans, instead of the actual investigative reporter himself being able to talk truth.

I guess that''s why we haven''t seen the news of the 35 impeachment charges Congressman Dennis Kucinich has tried to introduce plastered all over the news.

Reply to this comment

by reedtaz73 June 17, 2008 5:15 PM PDT

Stress tests are tough on the somewhat inactive/older person...it might have pushed the ball rolling toward that fatal attack.

Reply to this comment

by marlon991 June 17, 2008 5:26 PM PDT

I liked Tim and God rest his soul. However these network and cable tv people seem addicted to their jobs. Their life experience must be so narrow which begs the question-Are these the people who should be interpreting life''s events for us?. I mean what more has Tom Brokaw got to tell us that we do''nt know from him already?. He keeps showing up all the time even though he''s supposed to be retired. Tim Russert was constantly popping up on Today, NBC Nightly News MSNBC as well as his day job on Meet the Press. How can you have a life and any kind of decent health when you''re addicted to this kind of work. The world will still go on without Tim God Rest his soul. He will be forgotten next week.

Reply to this comment

by kamsack50 June 17, 2008 5:49 PM PDT

could people stop talking about the guy?
This is the media celebrating itself.
Media people should not be celebrities making millions$ per year. They read the news and do interviews.
Mourn his death like any other good worker and leave at that.

Reply to this comment

by greendonkey1 June 17, 2008 6:22 PM PDT

I didn''t even know what the guys name was until he died. I had seen his face many times but I din''t realize what his name was. So, to the poster who said " he touched many of us." It doesn''t ring true to me.

Reply to this comment

by duffyn June 17, 2008 6:26 PM PDT

I appreciate the news on this. Somewhat fighting the belly fat myself. This pushed me on to a diet!

Reply to this comment

by rushlimpdrug June 17, 2008 6:45 PM PDT

This guy had stress?

First they report he loved what he did.

Then they mention stress.

I think they should start asking the
hard questions about his death.

1. What was in his pockets?

2. Did he have a snack?

3. Has anyone looked into his tax returns?

4. Does a "reporters" age affect his work
to the point he can''t handle the stress (truth)?

5. What do the next four years hold for the
next host?

Someone pleeeze ask the hard questions.

I am getting stressed out asking them
all by myself.

Think I''ll have a donut now.

Reply to this comment

by boston1954 June 17, 2008 7:35 PM PDT

This guy had stress? Posted by rushlimpdrug
___
They are not speaking here of mental stress.

Reply to this comment

by rushlimpdrug June 17, 2008 7:38 PM PDT

One day you report the news,
the next day you are the news.

Who new he''d be the new news
or even yesterday''s news?

Reply to this comment

by mck1957 June 17, 2008 7:39 PM PDT

I always admired Tim Russert because he nailed all of the big wigs to the wall. He did his research and had his sources ready to go. And while in all likely hood, Tim Russert did die of a heart attack, I have to wonder who was coming up to be interviewed by him. With all of the dirt coming out in behind the scenes politics, this little voice inside of me has me wondering if his death was really natural. Maybe I''m just paranoid, but he and his family had just returned from Italy and who really knows what he was working on? Tim Russert didn''t mind putting the cards on the table and exposing the truth. Could there have been someone that didn''t want to be exposed on National television? Either way, I hope Mr. Russert will rest in peace. Condolences to his family. Now who is going to drill these dirty politicians and keep them in line? Tim, we will miss you.

Reply to this comment

by rushlimpdrug June 17, 2008 10:19 PM PDT

"Could Russert''s Death Have Been Prevented?"

Can the ocean keep from rushing to the shore?

Can a baby not cry?

Can a fish not swim?

Can-can?

Reply to this comment

by wardoglrs June 17, 2008 10:25 PM PDT

Now if the rest of the media would die it would indeed be a good day

Reply to this comment

by incog-nito June 17, 2008 11:36 PM PDT

No, his death could not have been prevented. The man just knew too much.

Reply to this comment

by grammawhamma June 18, 2008 3:50 AM PDT

Posted by mspapillion at 12:11 AM

Did you ever hear of the concept of "working" and actually "earning" your money? This is an illegal scheme called pyramiding. Too bad you just posted your email address and that of others involved in this scheme. Whoops for you!

Why don''t you go write a book on how to get rich quick without working and maybe some idiots will buy it!?!

Reply to this comment

by johno2626 June 18, 2008 11:15 AM PDT

The factors to reduce heart disease is parroted in this news piece.
These are about the same steps advocated %u201Cad nauseum%u201D by the major doctors, and health officials.
In the meantime, the U.S. has dropped to around 70th in the world as far as health.
The major item affecting everyone%u2019s health is diet, anyone not paid by the drug companies or part of the official %u201Chealth care%u201D system knows this.

One of the biggest reasons is very aptly stated by George Mann, MD, former Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University and a heart researcher: %u201CThe diet-heart idea (the idea that saturated fats and cholesterol cause heart disease) is the greatest scientific deception of our times.%u201D

Our nutritionists and medical practitioners have gone down the wrong path with the drug companies by focusing on dietary fat as the major culprit in heart disease. This idea leads directly to the early death of not only Tim Russert, but thousands of people each year.
Why not cover true pioneers in the area of nutrition like the Weston Price foundation?
Why not cover Gary Taubes who wrote %u201CGood Calories, Bad Calories%u201D, documenting the true reason for high levels of chronic disease and death in industrial societies?
It%u2019s our food, stupid!

John O''Donnell

Reply to this comment

by oigen June 18, 2008 1:44 PM PDT

oktexchic:

Ever wonder why and how the current cholesterol levels were established. They were quite simply adjusted downwards by edict in response to complaints by the white coats conducting trials for statin efficacy some thirty years ago because they couldn''''t find enough people over the age of 50 with levels over 240 mg/dl (6.2 mmol/l), the then norm for that age bracket, to sufficiently power their trial studies. So the medical cartel to the glee of Big Pharma arbitrarily, by fiat, declared that 200 should be the norm for everybody. Of course this resulted in providing participants galore for cholesterol studies and statin therapy for practically the whole of the nation. And we have been stuck with these artificial levels ever since with the alarming result that our drinking water is now laced with it. The cholesterol hypothesis is the mother of all scams for cholesterol at any level is not a cause of heart disease.........http://tinyurl.com/2nylp
n

Reply to this comment

by eroosevelt08 June 18, 2008 6:08 PM PDT

I am sorry for the loss to Mr. Russerts family. Even so, Tim Russert always appeared very anti-Senator Clinton to me. It is hard to forget the sexist remarks he made.

Reply to this comment

by June 20, 2008 1:06 AM PDT

Prescription drugs rush his dismise, it is not surprising his Doctors have not come forward and listed the drugs he was taking at the time of his death.

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[roach9703]

It was Tim''s time to go ( period ).

[eroosevelt08]

I have sympathy for Mr. Russert''s family, but I cannot excuse his sexist treatment of Senator Clinton throughout the primary season.

The man was very talented but he trusted the medical community with his health care instead of taking it into his own hands. He could have made nutritional changes that would have made a difference. I feel for his family.

[sunillala]

ERoosevelt08 - there is a time and a place for everything. Let it go. Don''t carry your grudges and your hate into death.

Grow up. Every single thing in life does not revolve around the democratic primaries.

Have some decency.

[cdfoxtrot]

"About 850 Americans each day die from this condition, many without even making it to the ER. That comes to over 300,000 a year."

300,000 a year equates to 100 9/11''s. Every year. Just curious why the money being thrown away on the illegal war isn''t being directed at something like this, that is actually killing people in big numbers, unlike "terrorism".

[jpgil9]

We will miss this Giant of a Man and a Very Good Human Being. My Prayers go out to His Lovely Wife, Son, and Father-in Law. God Bless Them and God Bless Tim

[jpgil9]

We will miss this Giant of a Man and a Very Good Human Being. My Prayers go out to His Lovely Wife, Son, and Father-in Law. God Bless Them and God Bless Tim

[truth_police]

What happened to Russert (dying) is what will happen to every single human currently living on the planet. Because we are alive and he is dead, we who are alive tend to erroneously believe that what happened to him (dying) would not have happened, if ....if....if... In reality, death is an inevitability for all of us. When our moment comes it will always be ''too soon'' ... ''too aweful'' ... ''too painful'' ... ''too unfair'' for us to contemplate NOW. Death is always delivered by a medical-biological malfunction of some kind. The only remaining question is "when?" Since most humans do not frequently reside in the ''Here & Now'' the ''when'' question looms large. Whenever it happens, it will be in the ''Here & Now'' and everyone else will express utter tumultuous shock and surprise that such a thing could happen.

[mr_totten]

NO!

[soshljustic]

58 is to young to have a "time to go" so I wholeheartedly disagree with that thinking now, as I did when my father died the same way at his "time" of 55. This is just another reason to come up with less invasive and harmful ways to measure plaque build-up on vessel walls before a chunk breaks off and leads to an MI or Stroke. A bleed is a bleed is a bleed is not true. some have a decent quality of life after, some need never occur thru preventive measures as I know,working cardiac care in the 80''s - no more of that since I had a partial lobectomy in 2002 for 35-50 seizures a day--every threat to life can be mediated thru medicine--only need to keep coming up with the how to''s thru research and proper diagnostic tools.

[wblanchet]

Tim was a champion of the truth, here is some sad truth!

Tim Russert died from his first symptom of coronary artery disease as do 150,000 Americans each year. It touches almost every family. It is America''s most underreported tragedy and it cries for more exposure! Especially since it is an unnecessary tragedy caused by ignorance on the part of physicians as well as the public!.

First an indictment of the current standard:

Using standard risk factor stratification, we will find only about 40% of individuals at risk for heart attacks

Of those identified as being at risk, less than half are treated at all and fewer than one third are treated to goal

Treating patients to goal using current National Cholesterol Education Panel guidelines (NCEP-III) will prevent optimistically 40% of heart attacks.

Stress tests would be normal in over 80% of patients who will have a heart attack this year.

Stents cause more heart attacks and coronary death than does medical management alone(9,10).

What we should be doing:

EBT coronary Calcium Imaging is an inexpensive, safe, low radiation procedure that looks at the calcium contained within the plaque in coronary arteries. EBT coronary calcium imaging will identify over 95% of individuals at risk for heart attacks and treating to a goal of coronary calcium stability will prevent over 90% of the heart attacks in the group treated regardless of how much coronary disease they have at the beginning of treatment.

[grammawhamma]

I don''t wish bad things to happen to anyone. Mr Russert was too young to die.


By the looks of him, AL Gore will be next.

[lorenzen6]

It may be that if NBC had bought the heart defribillator and used it, russert would still be alive - all companies were advised to buy these but apparently NBC did not. Many people are saved if they can have a "heart re-start" in this type of situation. Americans need someone to believe in that is a national figure and russert fulfilled that role.

[missybelle-2009]

58 is to young to have a "time to go" so I wholeheartedly disagree with that thinking now
Posted by soshljustic at 02:52 AM : Jun 17, 2008


We can any of us go at any time, just be grateful for the time you have had, and every day is just a gift. Disagree all you want, but you can''t change it, right?

[rational_1]

I don''''t wish bad things to happen to anyone. Mr Russert was too young to die.
By the looks of him, AL Gore will be next.
Posted by GrammaWhamma at 05:10 AM : Jun 17, 2008

Ya never know. Like someone else already noted, George Burns lived to over a hundred, smoking those stogies like a fiend. The points the article makes about cholesterol, exercise, diabetes, etc. - on average. However, you can''t say anything definitive about any one person. Remember Jim Fixx, the guy who helped popularize the running phenomenon? Dropped dead of a massive heart attack at 52. You just never know...

[lovemy3boys]

Some people don''t make it out of the womb and children die every day...it''s sad, but true. We''re not all going to live to a "ripe old age" no matter how well we take care of ourselves.

I''m not saying that you don''t have to take care of yourself..if you do, your QUALITY of life will be better, but the QUANTITY was predetermined by God at your conception.

There''s an old saying, "Eat Right, Exercise, Die Anyway."

[walker1209]

To answer the question - NO, it was his time to go; it is as simple as that. I don''t believe that people die before their time. That being said, Mr. Russert was privileged to have great medical care and access to some of the best physicians in this country. That is a lot more than many hard working Americans have.
Approximately 830 Americans are stricken by this condition everyday, that is more than 200,000 a year. While this is a sad event for Mr. Russert''s family, loved ones, and colleagues, I am not sure why this has continued to be National news; is there nothing of importance going on in the country, world?

The death of this man only reinforces what I already believe; that we should live each day to the fullest, make a contribution to society in whichever way we can, treat our fellow humans as that, humans, and tell our families/loved ones each day that we love them. Tomorrow is not promised we can not undo what was done yesterday.

[talkingham]

Well after 30 years of heart specialists suggesting men stop eating butter in favor artery clogging trans fat loaded margarines it''s hard to tell how many men and women have died from the low-fat anti-animal fats edible oil lobby that owns half of Congress.

Do you realize it took a quarter of a century since nutritionist Mary Enig''s testimony about transfats was cut from the Congressional record for this travesty to be revealed.

There are quite a few people being killed by these "anti" cholesterol drugs that cause the plaque which is actually plugging gaps in many people''s artery walls and heart walls. When you remove the plaque you get a rupture or blockage.

The "low-fat" rancid edible vegetable oils industry is doing a great job.

It''s amazing how many incredibly fat people you see eating all this low fat slop.

[oktexchic]

One report I read said he Russert died due to high cholesterol. Yet I listen to experts who say the cholesterol is not the problem.

GrammaWhamma,
you seem to know a lot about this .. where did you get your information? I''m trying to help my mom be protected, but she listens to her doctors who have her on all kinds of meds, including Lipitor for cholesterol.

[georgew1956]

leave it to cbs to carie on the pain just to get a story on the wire , this is scum reporting.

[gwagener]

What I want to know is if he could have been revived if they had a portable defibrillator or if someone had done CPR on him. Sure, if he had lost weight and exercised more he might have lived longer, but the question not addressed is, "Could adequate emergency medical treatment have kept him alive?"

[credibility2]

What hasn''t been fully explored with the sudden death of Russert was all of the stress in the weeks leading up to his death. His son graduated from college. He placed his father in an assisted living home. He was traveling and vacationing heartily in Italy with his wife and son; the trip probably also included dining on perhaps less than healthy cuisine, given his health issues. He returns home one day ahead of doing the videotaping of his weekly program, presumably with no proper rest and recovery from the long cramped flight and acclimation to the time difference. Russert clearly was pushing himself beyond reasonableness and wasn''t giving himself sufficient recovery time and at a healthy pace. Work is fine, but when combined with other tangential factors, it''s not worth the stress and pressure some of us place ourselves under. All of this shows too that Russert was trying to do too much in too confined a space of time. I think his stress and his work contributed immensely to his too early a demise.

[oktexchic]

talkingham ... how do you know so much about this ... what is your source?

[gwagener]

Several posts suggest it was his time to go. You cannot possibly know that. lorenzen6 is right. A defibrillator can revive some people in cardiac arrest. I do not know if Russert could have been saved by a defibrillator, or if someone had done CPR on him. The article does not say.

[edwzar]

Please people. The time has passed for a question such as this... Let''s remember him for who he was and how he touched soo so many of us.. God Speed Tim!!

[jerr11]

Good question!

Could the Iraq war have been prevented?

Why didn''t Russert ask the hard questions?

Was he intimidated by the neocons like the rest of the spineless press?

Shouldn''t his program have be renamed "Meet the Neocon Propagandists?"

[talkingham]

I got started looking into this oil/fats mess back when I started a low-carb regime about 12 years ago before it was a fad.

Turns out that all this corn, soy and numerous other veggie oils have some pretty lousy characteristics, the least appetizing of which is the fact that they go rancid incredibly fast.

There is great reading on the subject of animal fats versus the edible oils industry at the Weston A Price Foundation web site, which includes articles by Mary Enig and others who disagree with many aspects of nutrition that have have been marketed to us under the name of low fats. Really nice to have a perspective that the bought and sold news media will never provide.

A friend of mine recently nearly died from a clot caused by one of these cholesterol reducing drugs, unfortunately the news media are too busy selling these drugs to ask any real questions about the philosophy and lack of any viable data to really support their use.

Most of the fats data in this country is totally skewed by the fact that trans fats were never broken into a separate category in any of the many studies that are now used in Public Health policy, no accident since the edible oils industry owns half of Congress. Can u say Archer Daniels Midland Corp?

[mrright5]

Could Russert''s Death Have Been Prevented?

If he had done his job and asked tough questions about 9/11 instead of being a 9/11 gate keeper.

If he had asked the tough questions he would''ve gotten fired and he could''ve walked away from the BS job he had he''d still be alive.

Dan Rather is.

[talkingham]

Here''s a little excerpt from the Weston A Price site about cholesterol studies- kinda interesting:
The problem with the 40 years of NHLBI-sponsored research on lipids, cholesterol and heart disease was that it had not produced many answers%u2014at least not many answers that the NHLBI was pleased with. The ongoing Framingham Study found that there was virtually no difference in coronary heart disease "events" for individuals with cholesterol levels between 205 mg/dL and 294 mg/dL%u2014the vast majority of the US population. Even for those with extremely high cholesterol levels%u2014up to almost 1200 mg/dL, the difference in CHD events compared to those in the normal range was trivial.29 This did not prevent Dr. William Kannel, then Framingham Study Director, from making claims about the Framingham results. "Total plasma cholesterol" he said, "is a powerful predictor of death related to CHD." It wasn''t until more than a decade later that the real findings at Framingham were published%u2014without fanfare%u2014in the Archives of Internal Medicine, an obscure journal. "In Framingham, Massachusetts," admitted Dr. William Castelli, Kannel''s successor "the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower people''s serum cholesterol. . . we found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories weighed the least and were the most physically active

[komoncents]

May this man rest in peace. I''m geussing the guilt from mouthing the party line, or lies, as I''m sure he knew full well of, contributed to the stress he was carrying.

It must be tough to be in the media these days with the shots being called by the controllers at the top preventing "real truth" from reaching Americans, instead of the actual investigative reporter himself being able to talk truth.

I guess that''s why we haven''t seen the news of the 35 impeachment charges Congressman Dennis Kucinich has tried to introduce plastered all over the news.

[reedtaz73]

Stress tests are tough on the somewhat inactive/older person...it might have pushed the ball rolling toward that fatal attack.

[marlon991]

I liked Tim and God rest his soul. However these network and cable tv people seem addicted to their jobs. Their life experience must be so narrow which begs the question-Are these the people who should be interpreting life''s events for us?. I mean what more has Tom Brokaw got to tell us that we do''nt know from him already?. He keeps showing up all the time even though he''s supposed to be retired. Tim Russert was constantly popping up on Today, NBC Nightly News MSNBC as well as his day job on Meet the Press. How can you have a life and any kind of decent health when you''re addicted to this kind of work. The world will still go on without Tim God Rest his soul. He will be forgotten next week.

[kamsack50]

could people stop talking about the guy?
This is the media celebrating itself.
Media people should not be celebrities making millions$ per year. They read the news and do interviews.
Mourn his death like any other good worker and leave at that.

[greendonkey1]

I didn''t even know what the guys name was until he died. I had seen his face many times but I din''t realize what his name was. So, to the poster who said " he touched many of us." It doesn''t ring true to me.

[duffyn]

I appreciate the news on this. Somewhat fighting the belly fat myself. This pushed me on to a diet!

[rushlimpdrug]

This guy had stress?

First they report he loved what he did.

Then they mention stress.

I think they should start asking the
hard questions about his death.

1. What was in his pockets?

2. Did he have a snack?

3. Has anyone looked into his tax returns?

4. Does a "reporters" age affect his work
to the point he can''t handle the stress (truth)?

5. What do the next four years hold for the
next host?

Someone pleeeze ask the hard questions.

I am getting stressed out asking them
all by myself.

Think I''ll have a donut now.

[boston1954]

This guy had stress? Posted by rushlimpdrug
___
They are not speaking here of mental stress.

[rushlimpdrug]

One day you report the news,
the next day you are the news.

Who new he''d be the new news
or even yesterday''s news?

[mck1957]

I always admired Tim Russert because he nailed all of the big wigs to the wall. He did his research and had his sources ready to go. And while in all likely hood, Tim Russert did die of a heart attack, I have to wonder who was coming up to be interviewed by him. With all of the dirt coming out in behind the scenes politics, this little voice inside of me has me wondering if his death was really natural. Maybe I''m just paranoid, but he and his family had just returned from Italy and who really knows what he was working on? Tim Russert didn''t mind putting the cards on the table and exposing the truth. Could there have been someone that didn''t want to be exposed on National television? Either way, I hope Mr. Russert will rest in peace. Condolences to his family. Now who is going to drill these dirty politicians and keep them in line? Tim, we will miss you.

[rushlimpdrug]

"Could Russert''s Death Have Been Prevented?"

Can the ocean keep from rushing to the shore?

Can a baby not cry?

Can a fish not swim?

Can-can?

[wardoglrs]

Now if the rest of the media would die it would indeed be a good day

[incog-nito]

No, his death could not have been prevented. The man just knew too much.

[grammawhamma]

Posted by mspapillion at 12:11 AM

Did you ever hear of the concept of "working" and actually "earning" your money? This is an illegal scheme called pyramiding. Too bad you just posted your email address and that of others involved in this scheme. Whoops for you!

Why don''t you go write a book on how to get rich quick without working and maybe some idiots will buy it!?!

[johno2626]

The factors to reduce heart disease is parroted in this news piece.
These are about the same steps advocated %u201Cad nauseum%u201D by the major doctors, and health officials.
In the meantime, the U.S. has dropped to around 70th in the world as far as health.
The major item affecting everyone%u2019s health is diet, anyone not paid by the drug companies or part of the official %u201Chealth care%u201D system knows this.

One of the biggest reasons is very aptly stated by George Mann, MD, former Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University and a heart researcher: %u201CThe diet-heart idea (the idea that saturated fats and cholesterol cause heart disease) is the greatest scientific deception of our times.%u201D

Our nutritionists and medical practitioners have gone down the wrong path with the drug companies by focusing on dietary fat as the major culprit in heart disease. This idea leads directly to the early death of not only Tim Russert, but thousands of people each year.
Why not cover true pioneers in the area of nutrition like the Weston Price foundation?
Why not cover Gary Taubes who wrote %u201CGood Calories, Bad Calories%u201D, documenting the true reason for high levels of chronic disease and death in industrial societies?
It%u2019s our food, stupid!

John O''Donnell

[oigen]

oktexchic:

Ever wonder why and how the current cholesterol levels were established. They were quite simply adjusted downwards by edict in response to complaints by the white coats conducting trials for statin efficacy some thirty years ago because they couldn''''t find enough people over the age of 50 with levels over 240 mg/dl (6.2 mmol/l), the then norm for that age bracket, to sufficiently power their trial studies. So the medical cartel to the glee of Big Pharma arbitrarily, by fiat, declared that 200 should be the norm for everybody. Of course this resulted in providing participants galore for cholesterol studies and statin therapy for practically the whole of the nation. And we have been stuck with these artificial levels ever since with the alarming result that our drinking water is now laced with it. The cholesterol hypothesis is the mother of all scams for cholesterol at any level is not a cause of heart disease.........http://tinyurl.com/2nylp
n

[eroosevelt08]

I am sorry for the loss to Mr. Russerts family. Even so, Tim Russert always appeared very anti-Senator Clinton to me. It is hard to forget the sexist remarks he made.

Prescription drugs rush his dismise, it is not surprising his Doctors have not come forward and listed the drugs he was taking at the time of his death.