Democratic Senator John Fetterman is under observation in hospital after he fell and injured his face following an irregular heartbeat flare-up.
Fetterman, 56, was taken to hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his team said he is now “doing well” but remains under observation.
“If you thought my face looked bad before, wait until you see it now!” the senator joked in a statement released by an office spokesperson.
Health issues afflicted Fetterman during his successful 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign, when he had a stroke and later spent six weeks in hospital seeking treatment for severe depression.
A spokesperson for Fetterman said on social media that the 6-foot-8 senator fell near his home in Braddock, east Pittsburgh.
“Upon evaluation, it was established he had a ventricular fibrillation flare-up that led to Senator Fetterman feeling light-headed, falling to the ground and hitting his face with minor injuries.
“He is doing well and receiving routine observation at the hospital. He has opted to stay so doctors can fine-tune his medication regimen.”
Ventricular fibrillation is a type of arrhythmia, or abnormal heart rhythm, according to US-based medical research group the Cleveland Clinic. It occurs when the heart’s lower chambers beat quickly and randomly, preventing them from pumping blood normally to the rest of the body.
Causes are usually linked to other heart conditions, electric shock, or electrolyte imbalances.
Fetterman’s near-fatal stroke in May 2022 benched him from campaigning events, as he spent nine days in hospital following a three hour-long heart surgery.
He won the competitive seat later that year in the midterm elections, defeating Trump-endorsed celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz. Fetterman’s victory handed the Democrats a wafer-thin Senate majority during the final two years of the Biden administration.
In 2023, he self-admitted at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to receive treatment for clinical depression.
Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania senator published his self-described “candid memoir” titled Unfettered, detailing his ongoing mental health struggles and the impact on his family.
“Depression is bipartisan,” he told independent media co-founder Katie Couric in a podcast interview earlier this week.
“It doesn’t check: ‘Hey, are you a Republican? Are you rural? Are your urban? Are you liberal’. It happens to anybody.”
Fetterman has developed a reputation on Capitol Hill as a hoodie-wearing, straight-talking centrist Democrat, who speaks out against his own party. He reflects in Unfettered on his congressional career as “the consummate anti-politician”.
He was one of a handful of Senate Democrats who voted to end the longest US government shutdown earlier this week.
“I’m sorry to our military, SNAP recipients, gov workers, and Capitol Police who haven’t been paid in weeks,” he said.
Fetterman vocally opposed the shutdown, voting 15 times over the past month to reopen the government.
