HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — U.S. Sen. John Fetterman had what his office says was a “ventricular fibrillation flare-up” that caused him to feel light-headed and fall during an early morning walk Thursday.
Fetterman was doing well and hospitalized in Pittsburgh, his office said. He sustained minor injuries to his face and was under “routine observation” at the hospital while doctors fine-tune his medication regimen, his office said.
The office’s statement quoted the senator as saying, “If you thought my face looked bad before, wait until you see it now!’”
Fetterman, 55, suffered a stroke in 2022, during his campaign for the Senate. Afterward, he had a pacemaker with a defibrillator implanted to manage a heart condition that can cause clotting and resultant strokes.
The lingering effects of his stroke include diminished auditory processing speed, which makes it hard to speak fluidly and quickly process spoken conversation into meaning.
Weeks after joining the Senate in 2023, Fetterman checked himself into the hospital for six weeks of treatment for clinical depression.
Post-stroke depression is common and treatable through medication and talk therapy, doctors say.
Fetterman was one of eight Democratic senators who voted this week to allow the Senate to move forward on compromise legislation to reopen the government.