Newly-elected Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Thursday.
The news follows the Pennsylvania Senator’s stay at George Washington University Hospital following last week’s State of the Union address. Fetterman reported feeling lightheaded last Wednesday and was held overnight for observation, NPR reported.
“While John has experienced depression off and on throughout his life, it only became severe in recent weeks,” read a statement from the Pennsylvania Senator’s office.
BREAKING: John Fetterman's office says that he checked himself into Walter Reed to be treated for clinical depression. pic.twitter.com/v5JUMnTZju
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 16, 2023
“On Monday, John was evaluated by Dr. Brian P. Monahan, the Attending Physician of the United States Congress,” the statement revealed. “Yesterday, Dr. Monahan recommended inpatient care at Walter Reed.”
“John agreed, and he is receiving treatment on a voluntary basis,” the statement continued. “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.”
Last year, Fetterman suffered a stroke shortly before Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate Primary. He was discharged shortly after and subsequently secured the Democratic nomination.
The Senate candidate’s stroke was a highly contested talking point throughout his campaign against Republican challenger Dr. Mehmet Oz.
In an October MSNBC interview, the then-Senate candidate revealed he required closed captioning (CC) technology to communicate due to challenges understanding verbal communication following his stroke.
“That auditory processing where I’ll hear someone speaking but sometimes [it won’t] be precise on what exactly that they’re saying. I use captioning,” he said.
“I always thought I was pretty empathetic—” Fetterman continued, pausing briefly. “Emphatic. I think I was very—excuse me,” Fetterman corrected himself again. “Empathetic, you know, that’s an example of the stroke empathetic.”
The then-Senate Candidate struggled through responses in his infamous debate with Oz in late-October.
“Hi. Good night everybody,” said Fetterman in a rocky opening remark before reiterating his previous claim that he might “miss” or “mush” words together as a side-effect of his stroke.
The debate continued with moderators asking the candidates questions about their stance on abortion, inflation, and gas prices. Fetterman consistently stumbled over words, appearing unable to form complete coherent sentences through a majority of his responses.
At one point, Fetterman responded to a question regarding his stance on fracking to which the candidate appeared unable to decipher if he supported the practice or not.
“I do support fracking and I don’t—” Fetterman appeared to hesitate. “I don’t I support fracking and I stand and I do support fracking.”
Fetterman ultimately prevailed over Oz in the November Midterm Election.
Fetterman reportedly did not show signs of a new stroke following last week’s hospital stay
