By The Associated Press

Published: Thursday, November 29, 2012, 8:02 p.m.
Updated: Thursday, November 29, 2012

HOUSTON — Former President George H.W. Bush was in a Houston hospital on Thursday for continuing treatment of a lingering cough.

Bush, 88, has been in and out of the hospital recently for complications resulting from bronchitis, said Methodist Hospital in a brief statement.

The hospital and Jim McGrath, spokesman for Bush in Houston, said the former president is in stable condition and is expected to be released by the weekend. Bush has been under hospital care for nearly a week.

“If you asked him today, he would tell you he feels good enough to get out this afternoon,” McGrath said Thursday. “But the doctors have a different view. He's 88, and they're being extra careful — and understandably so.”

The former president's illness is described as not life-threatening.

“Any time someone the president's age had bronchitis, there's concern about possible pneumonia,” Dr. Amy Myunderse, who is in charge of Bush's care, told the Houston Chronicle. “Mr. Bush's condition never progressed to that level.”

Bush was treated with antibiotics and steroids, she said.

McGrath said this is Bush's second extended hospital stay this month.

“This cough has kind of been building on itself since roughly the beginning of the month,” McGrath said. “He was hospitalized earlier in the month for a little over a week. They thought they had successfully contained the bronchial issues, but they hadn't.”

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