PHILADELPHIA — Sen. John Fetterman was released from the hospital Friday and returned to his home just outside Pittsburgh, his office announced.
The Pennsylvania Democrat was hospitalized for major depression at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in mid-February. He was released after six weeks of treatment, with his medical team finding his depression is now in remission, according to a news release from his Senate office.
“I am so happy to be home. I’m excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves,” Fetterman said in a statement. “I will have more to say about this soon, but for now I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works.”
Fetterman is expected to return to the Senate the week of April 17, his office said earlier this week. The Senate will be in recess for the next two weeks beginning Monday, and Fetterman will return when the chamber resumes work.
Fetterman will appear on "CBS Sunday Morning" for an interview with lead anchor Jane Pauley. The pair spoke earlier this week in Bethesda, Maryland, where Walter Reed is located, and the interview will air at 9 a.m. Sunday.
“It’s like you just won the biggest, you know, race in, in the country. And the whole thing about depression is, is that objectively, you may have won,” Fetterman tells Pauley in a preview clip of the interview released Friday. “But depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost. And that’s exactly what happened. And that was the start of a downward spiral.”
The announcement of his release included new details about Fetterman’s health attributed to physician David Williamson, the neuropsychiatry chief and medical director at Walter Reed who oversaw the senator’s care.
Fetterman symptoms of depression became worse in the two months before his hospitalization, the release said. He wasn’t talking much and moved slowly, had low energy and motivation, and felt a sense of worthlessness. He did not have suicidal thoughts, according to the statement.
Eventually, the senator stopped eating and drinking, which reduced his blood pressure and can cause low blood flow to the brain.
Fetterman’s depression was treated with medication, and Williamson reported improvement during the six-week hospital stay. The senator’s mood improved, and he engaged with others more, and ate and drank well. While at the hospital, the release said, Fetterman read a book about depression to better understand the disorder.
“He expressed a firm commitment to treatment over the long term,” Williamson described in his discharge briefing, according to Fetterman’s office.
A week before his admission to Walter Reed, Fetterman spent a couple of nights at George Washington University Hospital after checking himself in with light-headedness. The hospital found no new stroke at the time.
In Fetterman’s discharge briefing, Williamson said that they couldn’t find a evidence of a new stroke and said the senator’s neurological condition was the same as previous assessments.
The statement also noted that Fetterman’s left ventricular ejection fraction, a measure of how much blood the chamber of the heart pumps to the body, was 50-55%. A low ejection fraction is an indicator of heart failure. Measures between 50% and 70% are considered normal, according to the American Heart Association.
