Chicago Mayor Passes Heart Tests
A battery of tests has found no heart problems in Mayor Richard M. Daley, doctors said Monday as they prepared to release him from a hospital where he was taken after suffering chest pain.
Daley, 57, underwent stress tests and an angiogram at Northwestern Memorial Hospital to try to determine what caused his chest pain and elevated blood pressure during the weekend.
Doctors said they had found a mild case of hypertension, but no other reason for the chest pain. Tests ruled out heart damage and coronary heart blockage, they said.
As a precaution, the mayor will be put on medication to lower his blood pressure.
He was expected to return home late Monday. After a few days of rest, he can resume his normal activities, including bicycle riding and extended work days, doctors said.
The hypertension appeared to be a genetic problem and not necessarily related to stress, Dr. Steve DeAngeles said.
Daley was rushed to the hospital from his home Saturday. Doctors said his blood pressure returned to normal soon after he was admitted.
Daley's chief of staff, Julia Stasch, has taken over the city's daily operations until the mayor's return, spokesman Julian Green said.
Despite a family history of high blood pressure, Daley had not had a complete physical examination in at least 10 years, said Dr. Edward Newman, the Daley family doctor.
He said that was Daley's choice. "He, as everyone else, tends not to like doctors much," said Dr. Steven DeAngeles.
Added cardiologist Dan Fintel: "We plan to make up for lost time."
Daley had scheduled an appointment with DeAngeles for next month in anticipation of a bike trip across the country that he hopes to begin this summer. The mayor is an avid cyclist and works out three or four times a week, mayoral spokeswoman Jackie Heard said.
The mayor's family was with him Sunday and he had received dozens of calls from well-wishers, including President Clinton and Gov. George Ryan, Heard said.
Daley's father, Mayor Richard J. Daley, died in 1976 of a heart attack at age 74.