Mitch McConnell heads to rehab after hospital stay from fall

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 US senator suffered the fracture while treating him for a concussion after he tripped and fell at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in DC Wednesday, according to a spokesperson.

“Leader McConnell’s concussion recovery is proceeding well and the Leader was discharged from the hospital today,” McConnell spokesman David Popp said in a statement. “At the advice of his physician, the next step will be a period of physical therapy at an inpatient rehabilitation facility before he returns home.”

McConnell could be in rehab for a week or two, a senior Senate Republican aide said.

“That decision (on a rehab timeline) will be made by the leader’s physicians and the therapists,” the aide told Reuters. “It is very common to undergo physical therapy to regain strength after a hospital stay, and this ranges anywhere from a week to two weeks.”

The US Senate reconvenes Tuesday and is in session for the rest of the month.

McConnell’s head injury came nearly four years after suffered a shoulder fracture from a fall at his Kentucky home. He worked from home for some weeks after undergoing surgery while the Senate was in summer recess.

McConnell, first elected to his seat in 1984, suffered from polio as a child. He’s acknowledged he’s faced some difficulties as an adult climbing stairs.

He’s been the minority leader in the Senate since 2021 when Democrats claimed a slight advantage. He broke the record for longest serving leader in the Senate at the start of this year.

McConnell isn’t the only senator who’s been out lately.  

US Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, is still out receiving care for clinical depression. The 53-year-old suffered a stroke during his campaign last year.

And US Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, said earlier this month she landed in the hospital to be treated for shingles. The 89-year-old recently revealed she won’t seek another term in office when she’s up for reelection in 2024.

With Post wires