Bed rest may be cause of Clinton's blood clot

Clinton Treated for Blood Clot: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is undergoing hospital treatment for a blood clot.

Written by

Liz Szabo, USA TODAY

Many things can cause a blood clot in someone around the age of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, 65, doctors said Sunday.

The most likely explanation for her illness is a blood clot in the leg, brought on by her extended bed rest after suffering a concussion earlier this month, said Cam Patterson, a professor and chief of cardiology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Patterson has no personal knowledge of Clinton's case.

However, blood clots called deep vein thrombosis, or DVTs, can form when people are bedridden, which reduces blood flow to the legs, Patterson said.

"When you're not moving around, you don't have as much circulation in your lower extremities, and the blood sits around in your legs longer than usual," Patterson said. "That just makes it more likely that it's going to clot. If blood is moving around rapidly because someone is active, that's less likely."

Although blood clots in the legs are easily treated, they can be dangerous, Patterson said.

Beyond the pain and swelling caused by a blood clot, the real danger is that it can break off from the blood vessel and travel to the bloodstream to the lung, where it can cause sudden death, Patterson said.

If Clinton does have this type of blood clot, however, she is likely to make a full recovery, Patterson said. Doctors typically give patients a blood thinner, such as heparin, as well as several months of anti-clotting drugs such as Coumadin, he said.

With good medical care, a blood clot of this kind "is not likely to recur," Patterson said. "As long as she doesn't end up in another prolonged convalescence. That's good news."

Patterson said he becomes more concerned when a patient develops a blood clot while getting his or her normal amount of exercise. That could signal the patient has an underlying medical condition that needs to be addressed, he said.

The major symptoms of blood clots in the legs are typically swelling, redness and pain, Patterson said. Bedridden people should be alert to these symptoms and seek medical attention if they develop, he said. Blood clots also occasionally form in the legs when people take very long plane trips or have serious illnesses such as cancer.

Patterson said Clinton's illness illustrates how an apparently minor ailment can progress to a life-threatening situation.

Clinton became dehydrated after weathering a gastrointestinal bug, which can cause diarrhea and vomiting. She then became faint and fell, causing a concussion. While the concussion is not likely related to the blood clot, the injury did cause her to spend an extended time in bed. And that bed rest likely led to the blood clot, Patterson said.

"If you think about it, a simple problem like gastroenteritis could have led to sudden death, just through one step after another," Patterson said. Her doctors "need to be saluted," he says. "This is one of the preventable causes of death we as physicians all see every day."

People can reduce their risk of blood clots such as these by getting some exercise every day, even if they are sick in bed, Patterson said. "Even if you don't feel well, get up and walk around a bit, have leg massages and just make sure your legs are moving up and down."

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US gun lobby calls for more weapons in schools

David Taylor US Editor

America’s controversial gun lobby broke a week of silence today over the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School to unveil a plan to put more weapons in schools.

The National Rifle Association, which has borne the brunt of a wave of criticism since 20 children and six of their carers were killed in a matter of minutes last Friday morning, blamed lawmakers for leaving children undefended in schools.

Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s chief executive, claimed that sports stadiums, banks, celebrities and the President were all given better protection than “our most beloved, innocent and vulnerable members of the American family”.

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Jenna and Barbara Bush, Then and Now

We remember their party-hearty ways and their crazy college years, but the Bush twins, Jenna and Barbara, have long since grown up. While Jenna has stayed in the media spotlight—she just announced her pregnancy on NBC's "Today" show, where she works as a correspondent—Barbara has kept a lower profile, living in New York City and working on poverty and global health issues. Here's a look at what the former first daughters have been up to. - Lylah Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo Shine

"I'm nervous and so excited to say that Henry and I are pregnant—or I'm pregnant," Hagerannounced on NBC's "Today Show," where she has worked as a correspondent since 2009. "We're so excited. And I'm, you know, obviously nervous about it. I'm a first-time mom—but it's something I've always wanted."

While Jenna has been honing her journalism career -- she was recently named an editor at Southern Living Magazine -- Barbara has been working as the CEO and co-founder ofGlobal Health Corps , a non-profit that helps poor communities in Africa and in the United States.

Both Jenna and Barbara have ties to UNICEF. Jenna wrote a book about her experiences as a volunteer with the organization in Latin America, and Barbara interned for UNICEF in Botswana and is member of their Next Generation Steering Committee. Here the sisters are together at the UNICEF Snowflake Ball.

The twins live separate lives now, but they're both based in New York City ("I'm kind of like a homesick Texan living in New York," Jenna recently told the New York Times) and they often attend charity events, like this year's SickKids Bliss Ball, together.

Though she hasn't spent as much time in the public eye, Barbara Bush has been plenty busy since she graduated from Yale in 2004. She's on the board of directors of Forum's Young Global Shapers, Covenant House International, PSI, and Friends of the Global Fight for AIDS, TB, and Malaria.

Jenna Bush became a correspondent for NBC's "Today" show in 2009. A year earlier, Barbara co-founded and became CEO of Global Health Corps.

Before co-founding Global Health Corps, Barbara worked in Educational Programming at the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

Jenna Bush married Henry Chase Hager in 2008. Her wedding was a huge Texas event, and her parents threw a reception for her at the White House afterwards.

During a recent conference—"The Enduring Legacies of America's First Ladies"—Jenna confessed that she shared her first kiss with her now husband after they climbed up onto the White House roof.

Barbara Bush has moved far away from her father's Republican platform. In 2011, she endorsed same-sex marriage, going so far as to tape a video calling on her adopted home state of New York to legalize it. "I am Barbara Bush, and I am a New Yorker for marriage equality,” she said in the video. “New York is about fairness and equality. And everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love.

The twins were always close growing up, and now they live just one subway stop away from each other in New York City. But they both "work incessantly," Jenna told People Magazine, so they don't spend as much time together as they'd like.

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Romney's '47 percent' chosen as year's best quote

By By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN | Associated Press 

Reuters/REUTERS - Former Republican U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney waits for the start of a welterweight bout between Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines and Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada December 8, 2012. REUTERS/Steve Marcus (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BOXING POLITICS)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's comments about 47 percent of the population dependent on the government and "binders full of women" topped this year's best quotes, according to a Yale University librarian.

Fred Shapiro, associate librarian at Yale Law School, released his seventh annual list of the most notable quotations of the year.

"Debate remarks and gaffes actually seemed to play an important role in the ups and downs of the election campaign and may even have affected the ultimate outcome of the election," Shapiro said.

Romney, who lost the November election to President Barack Obama, made the 47 percent comment at a private fundraiser in May that was secretly recorded and posted online in September by Mother Jones magazine.

[Related: His ironic approval rating]

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what ... who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... and so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives," Romney said.

Romney spoke about reviewing "binders full of women" as governor when he sought to diversify his Massachusetts administration.

"It contributed to an image of him as being somewhat out of touch and maybe particularly out of touch with issues related to women," Shapiro said.

Obama made the list, too, for his "you didn't build that" comment, his contention that people who built businesses had help, from teachers, family and other supporters — and sometimes the government.

[Related: Romney's election night phone call to Obama]

"It was probably the leading line that Obama wished he hadn't made during this year," Shapiro said.

Obama's "horses and bayonets" debate rebuke of Romney in an exchange over the size of the Navy also made the list.

The original "Yale Book of Quotations" was published in 2006, and Shapiro has updated it with an annual list of the top 10 quotes. Shapiro picks quotes that are famous, important or revealing of the spirit of the times, not necessarily ones that are the most eloquent or admirable.

Here's the list:

1.

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what ... who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... and so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Mitt Romney, remarks at private fundraiser, Boca Raton, Fla., May 17

2.

"We took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet (in Massachusetts). I went to a number of women's groups and said, "Can you help us find folks?" and they brought us whole binders full of women."

Mitt Romney, second presidential debate, Hempstead, N.Y., Oct. 16

3.

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business — you didn't build that."

Barack Obama, remarks at campaign appearance, Roanoke, Va., July 13

4.

"Please proceed, Governor."

Obama, second presidential debate, Hempstead, N.Y., Oct. 16 (lead-in to Romney's denial that Obama had called Libya attack an act of terrorism)

5.

"You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military has changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines."

Obama, third presidential debate, Boca Raton, Fla., Oct. 22

6.

"If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Missouri senatorial candidate Todd Akin, KTVI-TV interview, Aug. 19

7.

"You hit a reset button for the fall campaign; everything changes. It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again."

Romney senior campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom, CNN interview, March 21

8.

"I'm an honorary consul general, so I have inviolability."

Socialite Jill Kelley, telephone call to a 911 dispatcher, Tampa, Fla., Nov. 11, about media crews that came to her home as news broke of her involvement in the scandal over the resignation of CIA director David Petraeus

9.

"Oppan Gangnam style."

South Korean rapper PSY, "Gangnam Style" (song)

10 (tie)

"Under current law, on January 1st, 2013, there is going to be a massive fiscal cliff of large spending cuts and tax increases."

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, testimony at House Committee on Financial Services hearing, Feb. 29

10 (tie)

"I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge."

Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, WMAZ-TV television interview about Taxpayer Protection Pledge, Nov. 21

10 (tie)

"I have a job to do. ... If you think right now I give a damn about presidential politics, then you don't know me."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Fox News interview about Hurricane Sandy, Oct. 30

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Hillary Clinton's Middle East trip canceled due to ill health

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will not be visiting Morocco and the Middle East as planned. A stomach virus has put her temporarily out of commission.

By Mohammad Arshad, Reuters / December 10, 2012

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton listens to a question during a joint news conference with Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the government building in Dublin, Ireland, Thursday. This week Clinton's trip to Morocco was canceled because she came down with a stomach virus.

Kevin Lamarque/AP

WASHINGTON

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has canceled her trip to Morocco this week for a meeting on the future of Syria's opposition because of a stomach virus, the State Department said on Monday.

Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns will travel to the meeting in her place.

"Since she's still under the weather, we'll be staying put this week instead of heading to North Africa and the Middle East as originally planned," State Department spokesman Philippe Reines said in a statement.

"In her place, Deputy Secretary Burns will travel toMarrakech for the Friends of the Syrian People meeting. We will let you know when she shakes this bug and resumes a public schedule," he said.

Clinton had been due to join foreign ministers from allied nations in Morocco to discuss the 20-month old Syria crisis as rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad push forward on the battlefield and move to unify the political opposition.

The so-called Friends of Syria group is expected to focus on new moves to strengthen and legitimize the recently formed Syrian opposition coalition.

Clinton had planned to continue from Morocco to Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

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Obama met Boehner on Sunday over fiscal cliff: aides

By Jeff Mason | Reuters 

Reuters/Reuters - U.S. President Barack Obama speaks while visiting middle class family members in their home to discuss his Administration's push to cut taxes for 98% of Americans in Falls Church in Fairfax County, Virginia, December 6, 2012. REUTERS/Larry Downing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama met withRepublican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehneron Sunday at the White House to negotiate ways to avoid the "fiscal cliff," according to White House officials and a congressional aide.

The two sides declined to provide further details about the unannounced meeting. Obama and Boehner aides used the same language to describe it.

"This afternoon, the president and Speaker Boehner met at the White House to discuss efforts to resolve the fiscal cliff," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

"We're not reading out details of the conversation, but the lines of communication remain open," he said.

An aide to Boehner emailed an identical quote.

The two sides are trying to reach an agreement that would stop automatic spending cuts and tax increases from going into effect at the beginning of the year. Analysts say if that so-called "fiscal cliff" occurs, the U.S. economy could swing back into a recession.

Obama has made clear he will not accept a deal unless tax rates for the wealthiest Americans rise. Boehner and many of his fellow Republicans say any tax increases would hurt a still fragile economy.

Last week Boehner and Obama spoke by phone, a conversation that the Republican leader described as pleasant but unproductive.

The common language used by both men's aides suggests an agreement to keep details about their discussions private, which could help both of them sell less politically palatable aspects of an eventual deal to lawmakers in their respective parties.

(additional reporting by Rachelle Younglai; editing by Stacey Joyce

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Mandela in hospital for tests 'consistent with his age'

From Robyn Curnow, CNN

December 9, 2012 -- Updated 0159 GMT (0959 HKT)

Nelson Mandela is visited by former U.S. President Bill Clinton on the eve of Mandela's 94th birthday in July in Qunu, South Africa.
Johannesburg, South Africa (CNN) -- South Africa's former leader Nelson Mandela has been admitted to a hospital in Pretoria for tests, but there is "no cause for alarm," President Jacob Zuma said Saturday.
Mandela "is doing well," Zuma said in a statement. "The medical team is assured of our support as they look after and ensure the comfort of our beloved founding president of a free and democratic South Africa."
Mandela, 94, will receive medical attention "from time to time, which is consistent with his age," Zuma said.
Mandela, a Nobel laureate, spent 27 years in prison for fighting against racial segregation in South Africa. He was elected president in 1994, four years after he was freed from prison.

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Cowboys death, arrest serve as another sad reminder that DUIs are a major problem for NFL

Josh Brent at the Irving Police Department. (AP)

Jerry Brown (Getty)

For the second consecutive week, the NFL was broadsided with a tragedy – a preventable, painful tragedy.

On Saturday, Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent was charged with intoxication manslaughter after what Irving, Texas, police described as a high-speed early morning crash on State Highway 114 that caused his car to flip at least once before winding up on a service road.

His victim was teammate Jerry Brown, a 25-year-old linebacker from St. Louis. Brown, a passenger at the time of the crash, was a teammate of Brent's at the University of Illinois.

This comes on the heels of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher committing suicide in front of his coach and general manager last Saturday after murdering Kasandra Perkins, his girlfriend and the mother of his 3-month-old daughter.

Two unrelated incidents; two horrific, troubling moments.

The Belcher case was quickly seized as a political opportunity – pounced on to discuss everything from guns laws, to football's violent way, to concussions. Brushed over was the core issue – Belcher was a bad guy, a cowardly murderer. Yet even as the tangents strained, the voices just got louder.

If the Brent case is going to go the same way, with big publicity and pointed discussion, then let it be used for a more practical purpose: to continue to remind players and fans alike of the dangers of drunk driving, particularly in the NFL community where it remains a scourge.

[Related: Josh Brent pleaded guilty to DUI while in college]

Let it be used as one more example for the need to plan ahead, to call a cab (or limo for some of these guys), to find a designated driver, to stay home or anything else to avoid this absolutely, 100-percent preventable issue.

Even Belcher drove after drinking last week. Police discovered him at 3 a.m. last Saturday sleeping off a night of partying in his Bentley, which was parked yet running. The cops gave him a break; he was allowed to go inside a nearby apartment complex and get some rest. Hours later, he went home and shot Perkins nine times.

He likely could've been detained at 3 a.m.

DUI is the league's biggest legal issue. A study by the San Diego Union-Tribune found that 112 of the 385 NFL player arrests (29 percent) between 2000 and 2008 involved drunk driving.

Belcher's crime was spectacular but beyond rare. The NFL doesn't have a murder problem. It doesn't even have a gun problem. If anything, the league's players are better behaved than the general public. That same Union-Tribune study found players arrested at a rate of one per 47. The U.S. population was one per 21, more than twice as often.

However, drinking in excess then driving remains difficult for the league to curb, the one issue it just struggles to contain.

It's not all that different for the rest of the country. We've been trying to wipe out drunk driving for generations now – from the formation of MADD, to the lowering of legal alcohol levels to endless mass publicity campaigns. There is no one left that doesn't realize not just the dangers of driving drunk but also the likelihood of getting arrested. There may not be anyone who doesn't know at least one victim.

[More: Jerry Brown remembered as good teammate who never 'had a bad day']

Yet it continues over and over, probably because it's a split-second decision, often made when a person's judgment has, by definition, been chemically altered.

This wasn't even Brent's first trouble with the issue. He plead guilty in 2009 to DUI while in college. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail, community service and ordered to sit in on a victim's impact group.

It didn't take.

Again, this is a societal problem. The NFL doesn't want this. The NFL already stresses it to players at every turn. It used to run what was called the “safe ride” program to get players home, but it was taken over by the NFL Players Association in 2009 over concerns about confidentiality. The NFLPA still operates it [albeit at the cost of $85 per ride, more than most cabs] with the phone number on the back of every union card. Both groups can only attempt to do more.

If there is one NFL trend that may be exposing itself here is that players, perhaps in higher numbers than expected, are partying hard on Friday night with a game normally less than 48 hours later.

Young people are going to go out. That's unlikely to ever change, but maybe teams, or the league overall, can focus on providing safe rides or significant reminders on that night of the week. Who knows? Let there be more discussion on potential solutions.

Belcher committed a wild act that brought demands and finger-pointing from every possible angle, regardless of if they were germane to the issue.

Brent's crime is more common, less eye-popping and almost non-political. There aren't any special interests to inflame or any pending lawsuits to build an argument off – the stuff that drives too many news cycles today.

This, however, is the bigger deal. This is the most likely crime a NFL player will commit. This, sadly, wasn't all that shocking.

Here's hoping the issue gets the same high-profile discussion, because even if we've all heard it before, everyone can use another reminder.

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Supreme Court will hear two gay marriage cases

A same sex marriage supporter waves a gay pride flag outside the Supreme Court (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it will decide two major gay marriage cases next year that could have a sweeping effect on the rights of same-sex couples to wed. The cases, which likely won't be decided until June, mark the first time the justices will consider arguments for and against same-sex marriage.

The court will review California's gay marriage ban, which passed in a 2008 ballot initiative months after California's high court had legalized same-sex unions and thousands of gay Californians had already tied the knot. Two federal courts have struck down Proposition 8 as discriminatory, leaving the Supreme Court to render a final judgment.

The justices will also hear a challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act, a law passed under President Bill Clinton that prevents the federal government from recognizing gay marriages. Windsor v. United States was brought by Edith Windsor, a resident of New York who paid $363,000 in estate taxes after her wife died because the federal government did not recognize their marriage. New York is one of nine states (and the District of Columbia) where gay marriage is legal, so Windsor argues that the federal government is discriminating against her by not recognizing her state-sanctioned marriage.

The Obama administration decided last year to no longer defend DOMA, so Congress has hired outside counsel to argue on behalf of the law. Recently, two federal appeals courts had struck down the law as unconstitutional, virtually requiring the Supreme Court to take the case to settle the dispute between the courts and Congress.

Legal experts are skeptical that the court would deliver a sweeping ruling deciding whether all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation, have a fundamental right to marry in the DOMA case. It's more likely they will narrowly decide whether the federal government has a legitimate interest in refusing to recognize same-sex couples who wed in states where gay marriage is legal. (Marriage has traditionally been regulated by the states.)

In the Proposition 8 case, justices may decide whether a ban on gay marriage is legal in the specific case of California, where gay couples were allowed to marry for several months before the ban passed. Such a narrow decision would not necessarily affect gay marriage bans that have passed in dozens of other states where same-sex marriage was never legal in the first place.

But it's possible the justices could make a broader ruling on Prop 8. Ted Olson, a former U.S. solicitor general under President George W. Bush  and one of the lead attorneys in the battle against Proposition 8, told reporters on Friday that he planned to argue that there's a "fundamental constitutional right to marry for all citizens." His co-counsel, David Boies, called same-sex marriage the civil rights issue of this era. If the justices accept this argument, states could no longer ban gay marriage, dealing the anti-gay marriage movement a fatal blow. If they reject the argument, it would shut down legal challenges to state marriage bans and significantly set back the movement to expand same-sex marriage rights.

John Eastman, the chair for the anti-gay marriage National Organization for Marriage, said in a statement that he thinks the Supreme Court will uphold Proposition 8 and DOMA. "We believe the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn this exercise in judicial activism and stop federal judges from legislating from the bench on the definition of marriage," Eastman said.

For both cases, court-watchers will have their eyes trained firmly on swing Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has a record of ruling in favor of gay rights. In 2003, Kennedy wrote the court's opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, a landmark decision that said the government cannot outlaw anal sex between consenting adults, whatever their sexual orientation. ("The liberty protected by the Constitution allows homosexual persons the right to choose to enter upon relationships in the confines of their homes and their own private lives and still retain their dignity as free persons," he wrote.) Kennedy also cast the deciding vote striking down a Colorado law that would have prevented local governments from passing laws specifically protecting gay civil rights.

Because of Kennedy's history on the issue, many legal experts think there's a good chance the court will strike down DOMA, with Kennedy joining the court's four liberals for the decision. But the workings of the Supreme Court are notoriously hard to predict, and it's still a complete mystery what the nine justices will decide in June.

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