Senator checks himself into hospital for mental health issue

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Sen. John Fetterman, the Democrat Pennsylvania senator, suffered a stroke while campaigning last year and has experienced depression ‘off and on’ throughout life. He admitted himself to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Wednesday night for “clinical depression,” his chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, said in a statement on Thursday afternoon. 

“While John has experienced depression off and on throughout his life, it only became severe in recent weeks,” the statement said.

Fetterman suffered a stroke May 2022 shortly before the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, before he beat Dr. Mehmet Oz in November to become a senator. According to the Cleveland Clinic, between 10 to 27 percent of people who suffer a stroke struggle with depression after the fact. The severity of his condition was not revealed to the public until the next month, but he continued to run for Senate while his campaign defended his fitness for the office.

Since being sworn in as senator, suspicions about his health compromising his ability to work appear to have been confirmed.