03:03 PM MST on Tuesday, March 7, 2006

By DAVE MICHAELS / The Dallas Morning News

Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday accepted full responsibility for shooting a fellow hunter and defended his decision not to publicly disclose the accident until the following day.

Meanwhile, the Austin attorney accidentally shot by Mr. Cheney over the weekend has recovered from a heartbeat irregularity and is doing well enough to do legal work in his space in the hospital’s intensive care unit, doctors said Wednesday.

Harry Whittington, 78, was moved back to the intensive care unit, but for privacy reasons, hospital officials said. Visitors can call into a person’s room at the hospital, but cannot reach a patient in the ICU.

In his first public comments since the accident Saturday in South Texas, Mr. Cheney told Fox News Channel he was the one who fired the round that hit Mr. Whittington.

"You can talk about all of the other conditions that exist at the time but that's the bottom line and -- it was not Harry's fault," he said in an interview with Brit Hume. "You can't blame anybody else. I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend."

Sally May, one of Mr. Whittington’s daughters, said early Wednesday that her father was feeling tired but still asked her to RSVP for him to a dinner party in Austin that he couldn’t attend.

“I said, ‘Dad, I think they know where you are,’” Ms. May said. “That’s him, he is always thinking.”

Peter Banko, the administrator of Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christ-Memorial, said Mr. Whittington was already back to work.

“He is sitting up in his chair, eating regular food, and actually plans on doing some of his attorney work in his room today,” Dr. Banko said.

Mr. Cheney pelted Mr. Whittington with birdshot on Saturday evening as the pair hunted quail at Armstrong Ranch, a frequent hunting ground for Texas’ politically-connected and powerful. Katharine Armstrong, the group’s host, is a lobbyist whose Washington clients include the powerhouse law firm Baker Botts — and its legal clients — and aircraft and biomedical companies.

Ms. Armstrong has said she does not lobby Mr. Cheney.

All of the hunters said the shooting was an accident that occurred after Mr. Whittington left the group to retrieve a downed bird. He approached the group from a low spot and didn’t yell to announce his presence, they said. When Mr. Cheney shot toward a covey of birds that sprung from the ground, he struck Mr. Whittington with perhaps hundreds of small BBs from the birdshot shell.

Mr. Cheney has come under fire for failing to disclose the accident. Instead, the owner of the ranch called a local newspaper on Sunday morning, about 14 hours after the shooting occurred. The vice president said he thought it made sense to let Ms. Armstrong reveal the accident.

"I thought that was the right call," Cheney said. "I still do."

Dr. Banko said he didn’t know if Mr. Whittington would watch the interview because the lawyer doesn’t have a television in the ICU.

Doctors identified a heart irregularity in Mr. Whittington on Tuesday morning, caused by the heart’s reaction to a BB lodged inside of it. Doctors have said the condition is very rare, which partly accounts for their contacts with White House medical staff, they said.

Doctors said Tuesday that fewer than 200 pieces of birdshot remained inside Mr. Whittington, with none in danger of touching his heart.

Doctors declined Wednesday to talk about the number of BBs inside Mr. Whittington.

His heartbeat returned to a normal rhythm with medication, Dr. Banko said.

Physicians will perform a 64-slice CT scan on Mr. Whittington to better know exactly where the BB is located. That information will be used for Mr. Whittington’s ongoing treatment in Austin.

Dr. David Blanchard, the hospital’s chief of emergency medicine, called Mr. Whittington “hemodynamically stable,” meaning his vital signs — blood pressure and pulse rate — are steady.

“Hemodynamically stable is the best situation we could possibly have, and we like to hear that in a patient,” Dr. Blanchard said.

E-mail dmichaels@dallasnews.com