PHILADELPHIA — John Fetterman is to return to the U.S. Senate on Monday after spending 44 days hospitalized to treat an episode of severe depression.
That's about four times longer than the typical stay for a Pennsylvanian admitted for the first time to treat a disorder that Fetterman said made him stop eating and feeling indifferent about life. He was unable to get out of bed even when his son tried to celebrate his still-fresh victory in one of the most-watched elections in the nation.
To put Fetterman's experience in perspective, The Inquirer analyzed state data on all 42,000 hospital stays for depression in 2021, the most recent year available. About a third were in the Philadelphia area, the records maintained by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council showed.
