A statement from the office of Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) reveals that the senator reportedly checked himself into a hospital Wednesday night for mental health issues.
The statement said that the decision to check Fetterman into the hospital came after the attending physician of the U.S. Congress recommended that he do so.
“Last night, Senator John Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to receive treatment for clinical depression,” his office said. “While John has experienced depression off and on throughout his life, it only became severe in recent weeks.”
“On Monday, John was evaluated by Dr. Brian P. Monahan, the Attending Physician of the United States Congress,” the statement said. “Yesterday, Dr. Monahan recommended inpatient care at Walter Reed. John agreed, and he is receiving treatment on a voluntary basis.”
“After examining John, the doctors at Walter Reed told us that John is getting the care he needs, and will soon be back to himself,” the statement concluded.
Late last week, the New York Times reported that Fetterman was struggling with “serious mental health” issues and often cannot understand the words that others are saying to him after suffering a stroke that nearly killed him in 2022. The report added that the senator’s struggles worsen significantly when he is under stress.
Fetterman has indicated that when he’s under stress, trying to understand what other people are saying is like “trying to make out the muffled voice of the teacher in the ‘Peanuts’ cartoon, whose words could never be deciphered,” the report said.
The report comes after Fetterman was hospitalized last week after “feeling lightheaded” at a Democrat Senate retreat. His staff claimed that doctors told them he did not have another stroke and that they were checking for signs of seizures.
The report noted that the stroke last year has taken a “very real psychological toll” on him and that he has “had to come to terms with the fact that he may have set himself back permanently by not taking the recommended amount of rest during the campaign.”
On Friday evening, Fetterman’s office released a statement claiming that medical tests from his most recent health episode came back negative.
“A few minutes ago, Senator John Fetterman was discharged from The George Washington University Hospital,” the statement said. “In addition to the CT, CTA, and MRI tests ruling out a stroke, his EEG test results came back normal, with no evidence of seizures.”
“John is looking forward to spending some time with his family and returning to the Senate on Monday,” the statement added.
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