Former President Clinton is expected to be released from an Orange County hospital on Sunday after spending nearly a week there because of an infection, a spokesman said.
“President Clinton has continued to make excellent progress over the last 24 hours. He will remain overnight at UC Irvine Medical Center to continue to receive IV antibiotics before an expected discharge tomorrow,” spokesman Angel Ureña said on Saturday.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton visited the hospital on Saturday. The trio spent time together, and the former president also spoke with friends and watched college football, Ureña said. “He’s looking forward to getting home very soon,” he added.
The 75-year-old former president was in Southern California this week — his first trip to the West Coast since the pandemic hit — to speak at a Clinton Foundation reception and dinner on Thursday. While visiting friends Tuesday in Orange County, he felt fatigued and was admitted to the hospital. He was diagnosed with a urological infection, which spread to his bloodstream. Clinton is being housed in the intensive care unit as a precaution because of the pandemic, an aide said.
Clinton had a urinary tract infection, a common ailment. But age is a complicating factor, according to the Mayo Clinic, and if not treated properly, such an infection can lead to sepsis, which can cause organ failure.
Ureña said that though the infection had entered Clinton’s bloodstream, he never developed sepsis.
The former president has been receiving intravenous antibiotics and fluids since Tuesday and remained hospitalized through the weekend to continue that treatment, Ureña said.
Clinton, a former Arkansas governor, served two terms in the White House from 1993 to 2001.