Ex-president George H.W. Bush moved to intensive care; wife hospitalized

Former US President George H.W. Bush has been moved to an intensive-care unit at a Houston hospital with pneumonia and was stable and resting comfortably after doctors performed a procedure to clear his airway, his office said on Wednesday.

His wife of 72 years, former first lady Barbara Bush, also was admitted to the same hospital on Wednesday as a precaution after experiencing fatigue and coughing, the office said in a statement.

Bush, who at 92 is the nation’s oldest living ex-president, has been at Houston Methodist Hospital since Saturday after experiencing shortness of breath, family spokesman Jim McGrath said on Wednesday.

Since then, Bush experienced an “acute respiratory problem stemming from pneumonia” and was sedated for the unspecified procedure, his office said.

He will remain in the hospital’s intensive-care unit for observation, his office said.