Democratic Senator John Fetterman is under observation in the hospital after he fell and injured his face due to a rapid heartbeat.
Fetterman, 56, was taken to a 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 spokesman.
Health problems plagued Fetterman during his successful 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign when he suffered a stroke and then spent six weeks in the hospital seeking treatment for severe depression.
A spokesman for Fetterman said on social media that the 6-foot-8 senator fell near his home in Braddock, East Pittsburgh.
“During the examination, it was determined that he had suffered an attack of ventricular fibrillation, which caused Senator Fetterman to feel dizzy, fall to the ground and suffer minor facial injuries.
“He is feeling well and is under regular monitoring in hospital. He decided to stay so doctors could clarify his treatment regimen.”
According to the American medical research group Cleveland Clinic, ventricular fibrillation is a type of arrhythmia, or abnormal heart rhythm. This occurs when the lower chambers of the heart beat quickly and erratically, preventing them from pumping blood normally to the rest of the body.
Causes are usually related to other heart conditions, electrical shock, or electrolyte imbalance.
Fetterman's near-fatal stroke in May 2022 left him unable to participate in campaign events as he spent nine days in the hospital following three-hour heart surgery.
Later that year, he won a competitive seat in the midterm elections, defeating Trump-backed celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz. Fetterman's victory gave Democrats a slim majority in the Senate for the final two years of the Biden administration.
In 2023, he self-admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment of clinical depression.
Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania senator released his self-described “candid memoir” entitled “Unchained,” which details his ongoing struggle with mental health and the impact it has had on his family.
“The depression is bipartisan,” he told independent media co-founder Katie Couric in a podcast interview earlier this week.
“He doesn’t check, ‘Hey, are you a Republican? Are you rural? Are you urban? You're liberal.” This happens to everyone.”
Fetterman has developed a reputation on Capitol Hill as an outspoken, hoodie-wearing centrist Democrat who rails against his own party. In “Unchained,” he reflects on his career in Congress as “the consummate anti-politician.”
He was one of the few Senate Democrats to vote to end the longest U.S. government shutdown earlier this week.
“I feel sorry for our military, SNAP recipients, government employees and Capitol Police who have not been paid in weeks,” he said.
Fetterman has been a vocal opponent of the shutdown, voting 15 times in the last month to reopen the government.
