Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell was released from the hospital Monday and will check into an inpatient rehab facility as he recovers from a concussion and a minor rib fracture from a fall last week, his office said.
Doctors determined the 81-year-old U.S. senator suffered a fracture Wednesday while treating him for injuries he suffered after a slip and fall at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in D.C., according to a spokeswoman.
“Leader McConnell is recovering from his injury and was released from the hospital today,” McConnell spokesman David Pope said in a statement. “On his doctor’s advice, the next step will be a period of physical therapy at an inpatient rehabilitation facility before returning home.”
A senior Senate Republican aide said McConnell could be in rehab for a week or two.
“The decision (on the rehabilitation timeline) will be made by the leader’s doctors and therapists,” the aide told Reuters. “It’s very common to undergo physical therapy to regain strength after a hospital stay, and that’s anywhere from a week to two weeks.”
The US Senate reconvened on Tuesday and is in session for the rest of the month.
McConnell’s head injury came nearly four years after he fractured his shoulder in a fall at his Kentucky home. He worked from home for a few weeks after the surgery while the Senate was in summer recess.
McConnell, first elected to his seat in 1984, suffered from polio as a child. He has admitted that he has had some trouble climbing stairs as an adult.
He has been Senate Minority Leader since 2021 when Democrats claimed a slight advantage. He broke the record for the longest serving leader in the Senate earlier this year.
McConnell is not the only senator who has been on the sidelines recently.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, is still excluded from receiving care for clinical depression. The 53-year-old suffered a stroke during his campaign last year.
And U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, said earlier this month she visited the hospital for treatment for shingles. The 89-year-old recently revealed that she will not seek another term in office when she is running for re-election in 2024.
With post wire
