Newly elected Senator John Fetterman (D., Pa.) was hospitalized overnight after he reported feeling light-headed, his office announced late Wednesday.
“Towards the end of the Senate Democratic retreat today, Senator John Fetterman began feeling light-headed. He left and called his staff, who picked him up and drove him to The George Washington University Hospital,” a statement from his team said.
“Initial tests did not show evidence of a new stroke, but doctors are running more tests and John is remaining overnight for observation. He is in good spirits and talking with his staff and family. We will provide more information when we have it,” it added.
Fetterman suffered an ischemic stroke on May 13 2022, just four days before the Democratic primary election in his state, which he won despite his condition. He then went on to defeat Trump-backed Dr. Mehmet Oz in the general election for the Pennsylvania Senate seat.
However, the senator has admitted since that he has struggled with recovery, enduring serious side effects from the traumatic brain attack. At a campaign event in October, Fetterman said that he dealt with auditory processing difficulties, making it difficult to comprehend or speak certain sentences.
An NBC News interview with Fetterman back in October caused a stir when a reporter asked him questions about his stroke experience.
Reporter Dasha Burns explained on air that “Fetterman’s campaign required closed captioning technology for this interview to essentially read our questions as we asked them,” and noted that, “in small talk before the interview without captioning, it wasn’t clear he was understanding our conversation.”
The exchange left Gisele Fetterman, his wife, in a “rage” over the report, for which she demanded “consequences” for Burns.
“It was appalling to the entire disability community and I think to journalism,” Fetterman’s wife said.
Across progressive media, journalists condemned Burns for discrimination and stigmatizing disabled people. Criticisms were not consistent, however, ranging from insisting nothing was wrong with Fetterman to determining that his health condition was immaterial anyway.
On the other hand, some outlets accused Fetterman’s wife of puppeteering the campaign while downplaying the severity of her husband’s medical problems. She referred to the stroke as a “little hiccup” on the same day Fetterman underwent surgery to to have a pacemaker and defibrillator implanted, the Washington Free Beacon noted.