Ex-president Bush gets hospital's all clear to return home

Former US president George H.W. Bush was released from hospital Tuesday, his spokesman said, a week after the aging statesman was admitted for breathing problems.

“President Bush was released from the Houston Methodist Hospital today,” spokesman Jim McGrath said in a statement.

“He is now resting at home, grateful to the doctors and nurses for their superb care.”

Bush, 90, was admitted on December 23, and by Monday was breathing again normally.

The oldest of the four living former US presidents, Bush, who uses a wheelchair, has seemed frail in recent public appearances.

He was treated at Houston Methodist in November 2012 for bronchitis, and spent nearly two months at the hospital.

The former president’s wife Barbara was admitted to the same Houston hospital nearly a year ago with pneumonia.

Bush, patriarch of one of America’s most prominent political dynasties, is father to former US president George W. Bush.

Another son, Jeb, last week announced that he was laying the foundation for his own 2016 White House bid.