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ORANGE (CNS) - Former President Bill Clinton was released from UCI Medical Center today after a five-day stay for a urinary tract infection that spread to his bloodstream.
Clinton, 75, walked out of the hospital and into a waiting vehicle at about 8 a.m. Sunday, accompanied by former first lady Hillary Clinton.
``President Clinton was discharged from UC Irvine Medical Center today. His fever and white blood cell count are normalized and he will return home to New York to finish his course of antibiotics,'' according to a statement from Dr. Alpesh Amin, executive director of hospital medicine at UC Irvine Health, who was overseeing the team of doctors treating Clinton.
Clinton was admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit Tuesday night. Officials said he was treated in the ICU more out of privacy than the nature of the illness.
Clinton was in the Southland to attend events on behalf of his charitable foundation.
``President Clinton was taken to UC Irvine Medical Center and diagnosed with an infection,'' Amin and Dr. Lisa Bardack said in a joint statement Thursday. ``He was admitted to the hospital for close monitoring and administered IV antibiotics and fluids. He remains at the hospital for continuous monitoring.
``After two days of treatment, his white blood cell count is trending down and he is responding to antibiotics well. The California-based medical team has been in constant communication with the president's New York-based medical team, including his cardiologist.''
Dr. David Agus, a professor of medicine at USC Keck School of Medicine and a CBS News medical contributor, said Friday morning he had spoken to Clinton's doctors, who said the former president became ill while attending a foundation fundraiser, experiencing nausea and vomiting. He was taken to the hospital, where doctors conducted a series of tests and detected the bacteria E.Coli in his urine, Agus told CBS News on Friday morning.
In 2004, the former president underwent quadruple bypass surgery. In 2010, he had a pair of stents inserted to open a clogged coronary artery.
Hillary Clinton visited her husband at the hospital Saturday morning. The former secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate was also spotted at the hospital Thursday night.
``He is in great spirits and has been spending time with family, catching up with friends, and watching college football,'' spokesman Angel Urena said in a statement Saturday afternoon. ``He is deeply grateful for the excellent care he continues to receive and thankful for the many well wishers who have sent kind words to him and his family.''
Clinton also received a phone call Friday from President Joe Biden.
``Oh, I wanted to see how he was doing,'' Biden told reporters while traveling in Connecticut. ``He's doing fine. He really is. And he's going to be released from the hospital. And we talked about, which we were going to do before, getting together. I haven't seen him in a while, and for him to come over and have some lunch and talk.
``He was very encouraging about why he thought the policies I was pursuing made sense but we didn't get into much detail, except, it was mainly just seeing how he's doing,'' the president said.