THE FETTERMAN DILEMMA. John Fetterman was sworn in as a senator from Pennsylvania on Jan. 3. On Feb. 8, after 36 days in office, Fetterman was admitted to George Washington University Hospital in Washington after experiencing symptoms he and those around him feared might indicate a stroke. Tests showed he did not have a stroke, and Fetterman was released after two nights in the hospital. On Feb. 15, after 43 days in office, Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment of depression. He is still there. Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported that Fetterman “could remain hospitalized for more than a month.”
Fetterman’s problems, of course, include the after-effects of a stroke he suffered on May 13, 2022, just days before Pennsylvania’s Democratic senatorial primary. Fetterman stayed in the race, won his party’s nomination, and moved on to the general election campaign. At the time, Fetterman, his family, and his political team downplayed the seriousness of his condition. Fetterman’s wife Gisele called the stroke “a little hiccup” and told reporters that her husband would be “back on his feet in no time.” In contemporary accounts, the event was often called a “minor stroke.” Now, however, it is widely recognized to have been life-threatening.
