Clyde DeWitt Recovering From Heart Surgery

LAS VEGAS - After complaining of chest pain yesterday while vacationing in Las Vegas, prominent First Amendment attorney and AVN columnist Clyde DeWitt was rushed to a local hospital where, at 7:30 this morning, surgery was successfully performed.

According to his significant other, Cherie Lee Williams, DeWitt was admitted to the hospital late Tuesday night, where his complaints of "discomfort" in his chest, which he had self-diagnosed as food poisoning, were considered by staff doctors to be serious enough to warrant admission.

Tests at the hospital had revealed a partial blockage of what Williams described as DeWitt's "middle artery" (and is believed to be the anterior interventricular artery) which was "collapsed as if he had been hit in the chest."

Surgery to cure the blockage had been scheduled for 5:30 p.m. today, but the cardiac surgeon decided to move the surgery up to 7:30 this morning. Further tests revealed that the artery had become detached from the cardiac wall and was, in Williams' words, "flapping loosely." The surgery team reset the artery and inserted a stent in order to keep the artery open and functioning.

As this is written, DeWitt is in the post-surgical recovery unit and is expected to be released tomorrow, after which he and Williams will spend a few more days in Las Vegas recuperating.

Williams requests that well-wishers NOT contact DeWitt, even to wish him well, since she is trying to restrain his normal energetic nature until he has a chance to recover from the surgery.

"The more that he tires himself out, the longer his recovery will be," Williams said. "I told him that I am going to become very bossy in order to keep him still."

DeWitt has been a contributor to AVN almost since its inception, and has had articles published in the entire AVN family of magazines, as well as on its website. The entire staff offers its best wishes for DeWitt's speedy recovery.