Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday evening after feeling lightheaded during a Democratic Senate retreat.
The news comes after Fetterman suffered a serious stroke while campaigning last year. The stroke occurred just before the Republican Senate primary, which he and Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz won.
“Towards the end of the Senate Democratic retreat today, Senator John Fetterman began feeling lightheaded,” said Fetterman’s communications director, Joe Calvello. “He left and called his staff, who picked him up and drove him to The George Washington University Hospital.”
“Initial tests did not show evidence of a new stroke, but doctors are running more tests and John is remaining overnight for observation,” the statement continued. “He is in good spirits and talking with his staff and family. We will provide more information when we have it.”
In an op-ed published in September, the Washington Post Editorial Board chastised Fetterman for his campaign’s lack of transparency regarding his health issues following the stroke.
“Since returning to the campaign trail, Mr. Fetterman has been halting in his performances,” the Editorial Board wrote. “He stammers, appears confused and keeps his remarks short. He’s held no news conferences. Mr. Fetterman acknowledges his difficulties with auditory processing, which make it hard for him to respond quickly to what he’s hearing. He receives speech therapy — and we wish him a speedy, full recovery — but the lingering, unanswered questions about his health, underscored by his hesitation to debate, are unsettling.”
According to the newspaper, Fetterman’s team was not credible when discussing the senator’s health because they were not forthcoming about how serious the situation was after he suffered the stroke.
“The Fetterman campaign squandered credibility by concealing from the public for two days after his stroke that he had been hospitalized,” the op-ed continued. “It waited weeks longer to reveal a more complete picture of his medical history, including that he had been diagnosed in 2017 with cardiomyopathy. Mr. Fetterman had a pacemaker with a defibrillator implanted after the stroke. The campaign’s response to questions about Mr. Fetterman’s health is to point to a doctor’s note, released more than 14 weeks ago, which said ‘he should be able to campaign and serve in the U.S. Senate without a problem’ if he takes his medications and exercises.”
Fetterman’s citation of a 4-month-old doctor’s note was deemed “insufficient” by the Editorial Board, who advised him to “release his medical records for independent review.”
