John Fetterman discharged from hospital as tests rule out stroke and seizure

Senator had stroke on campaign trail last year

US Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has been discharged from the hospital, his office announced, with multiple tests ruling out a stroke or a seizure as the cause for his two-night stay.

“John is looking forward to spending some time with his family and returning to the Senate on Monday,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

The Democrat underwent CT, CTA, MRI, and EEG testing in the hospital, his office added.

Mr Fetterman sought treatment after feeling lightheaded at a Democratic event in Washington on Wednesday, according to the AP.

The senator had a stroke last year during his campaign for Congress.

Mr Fetterman’s health became a major campaign topic of discussion as a result.

Things escalated further when an NBC reporter described Mr Fetterman as being unable to understand her questions during his first post-stroke interview until closed captioning was rolling.

The Fetterman campaign later addressed questions about his cognitive abilities.

“The elephant in the room for a lot of folks is that I had a stroke,” he said during a Facebook Live session. “And there are — there’s no secret that sometimes I’m going to miss words, and sometimes I’m going to mush two words together. And that’s the truth.”

“I sometimes will hear things in a way that’s not perfectly clear. So I use captioning so I’m able to see what you’re saying on the captioning,” he said during another interview. Some observers criticised the line of inquiry, arguing Mr Fetterman was being singled out unfairly and being covered by people insensitive to disabilities.

“If you’re paying attention, some of the loudest voices in journalism are now conducting a master class on how *NOT* to cover a politician with a #disability,” Steve Silberman, an author who wrote a book about autism, wrote on Twitter in October. “Dramatic reminder that the industry desperately, desperately needs to hire more #disabled journalists.”