Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was hospitalized Thursday after falling near his Pennsylvania home and sustaining “minor injuries” to his face, the senator’s spokesperson said.
Medical personnel determined that the incident, which included “feeling light-headed,” involved a flare-up of a cardiac issue known as ventricular fibrillation, the spokesperson said in a statement on X.
“During an early morning walk, Senator Fetterman sustained a fall near his home in Braddock. Out of an abundance of caution, he was transported to a hospital in Pittsburgh,” the statement said.
Fetterman, 56, joked about episode, saying, according to his spokesperson, “If you thought my face looked bad before, wait until you see it now!”
The first-term senator, who has faced multiple health problems in recent years, is “doing well” and is under “routine observation,” the spokesperson said, adding that Fetterman decided to stay at the hospital for now so that doctors can “fine-tune” his medications.
Dr. Kavita Patel, an NBC News medical contributor and a professor of medicine at Stanford University, said by email that ventricular fibrillation is a “life-threatening emergency” in which electric signals that coordinate the heart’s lower chambers become “chaotic.”
“V-fib abruptly reduces brain blood flow, causing nearly immediate unconsciousness and collapse,” she said, adding that a flare-up means the heart momentarily slipped into an abnormal rhythm.
Fetterman had a pacemaker-defibrillator, also known as an ICD, implanted after his stroke in 2022. The device can detect a V-fib flare-up immediately.
Patel said, however, it’s possible a person can fall in the “split second before a shock [from the device] restores normal rhythm.”
“Senator Fetterman’s ICD did its job — the fact he’s alert and in observation is a positive outcome,” she said.
Still, she said, “even with an ICD, episodes like these require follow-up to adjust medications, rule out triggers, and keep the device functioning optimally.”
Fetterman had a stroke while campaigning for his Senate seat in 2022. During his recovery, he struggled with his mental health and was ultimately diagnosed with clinical depression. He received inpatient treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for about six weeks and later shared his story publicly.
