On Wednesday night, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) checked himself into a hospital for mental health problems, according to a statement from his office.
Fetterman was often criticized during his 2022 campaign for his lack of transparency about his health after his stroke last May that caused apparently permanent auditory processing issues. Fetterman refused to release his full medical records and his campaign consistently dismissed the severity of the incident.
“Last night, Senator John Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to receive treatment for clinical depression,” the statement 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 continued. “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.
The news comes after the New York Times reported late last week that Fetterman was struggling with “serious mental health” issues and that he rarely can understand what others are saying due to the damage caused by the stroke he had last year.
According to the report, when Fetterman is under stress, trying to understand what others 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 that Fetterman’s stroke 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.”
