Cheney's pacemaker needs fresh battery

"WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney's routine checkup on Friday revealed no new blockages in his heart, but doctors said he needs a new battery for a special pacemaker he has in his chest, a spokeswoman said.

"The battery in his implanted cardiac defibrillator is reaching its limit, said Megan McGinn, deputy press secretary for the vice president."

I'm not buying this, that battery should have lasted another fifteen years.  A reptile that size, his heart beats what, twenty times per minute?