Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) reportedly checked himself into a hospital Wednesday night for mental health issues, according to a statement from his office.
The statement said that the decision to check Fetterman into the hospital came after the attending physician of the United States Congress recommended that he do so.
“Last night, Senator John Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to receive treatment for clinical depression,” his office 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 said. “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 New York Times reported late last week that Fetterman was struggling with “serious mental health” issues and often cannot understand the words that others are saying to him following the stroke that nearly killed him last year.
The report said that Fetterman’s struggles are significantly worse when he is under any kind of stress.
Fetterman has indicated that when he’s under stress, trying to understand what other people 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.
The report comes following Fetterman’s hospitalization last week after feeling lightheaded at a Democrat Senate retreat.
Fetterman’s staff claimed that doctors said that he did not have another stroke and that they were checking for signs of seizures.
The report noted that the stroke last year 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.”
Fetterman’s office released a statement Friday evening claiming that medical tests from his most recent health episode came back negative.
“A few minutes ago, Senator John Fetterman was discharged from The George Washington University Hospital,” the statement said. “In addition to the CT, CTA, and MRI tests ruling out a stroke, his EEG test results came back normal, with no evidence of seizures.”
“John is looking forward to spending some time with his family and returning to the Senate on Monday,” the statement added.
This report has been updated to include additional information.