Bern
05-18-2008, 09:46 AM
Out of immediate danger, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy remained hospitalized as doctors worked to determine what caused one of the nation's best-known senators to suffer a seizure in his Cape Cod home.
Kennedy, 76, the lone surviving son in a famed political family, was flown Saturday morning to a Boston hospital after becoming ill and being treated at the emergency room of Cape Cod Hospital.
His physician said he did not suffer a stroke, as was first feared, and he recovered enough by Saturday afternoon to watch the Red Sox game on television. His wife, Vicki, his three children and his niece, Caroline Kennedy, among others, joined him at Massachusetts General Hospital.
"Over the next couple of days, Senator Kennedy will undergo further evaluation to determine the cause of the seizure, and a course of treatment will be determined at that time," said Dr. Larry Ronan, who added Kennedy was "not in any immediate danger."
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Sen. Kennedy recovering in hospital after seizure (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jQ0qyV1Z9XPXS6FFO5p2k9rV6HmwD90NTOMG1)
... Kennedy, the second-longest serving senator in office, has, over the years, become an institution on Capitol Hill. Which is why, when word came on a brilliant Saturday morning that Kennedy had been rushed to the hospital after suffering what was initially described as stroke-like symptoms (and later called a seizure), the news hit Washington like a small earthquake.
The reaction was not due to partisan concern — as when South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson was hospitalized with bleeding in the brain, shortly after the Democrats won control of the Senate in 2006 and the party feared losing his seat and control of the Senate. If anything were to happen to Kennedy, his seat would remain securely in Democratic hands, since a temporary replacement would be appointed by Massachusetts' Democratic Governor Deval Patrick until the next elections. The alarm felt by Democrats had little to do with the Senate's balance of power, but rather from contemplating for the first time the vacuum that Kennedy would leave behind. ...
In the Senate, Ted Kennedy Still Rules (http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1807447,00.html)
My wife has epilepsy, so seizures are something I know a little bit about. They will need to do a lot of testing to determine the root cause. It could be blood sugar, blood pressure, cardiac problem, mineral deficiency, alcohol abuse or a whole host of other reasons.
I wonder if the news of this event will heighten concerns about John McCain's age.
Kennedy, 76, the lone surviving son in a famed political family, was flown Saturday morning to a Boston hospital after becoming ill and being treated at the emergency room of Cape Cod Hospital.
His physician said he did not suffer a stroke, as was first feared, and he recovered enough by Saturday afternoon to watch the Red Sox game on television. His wife, Vicki, his three children and his niece, Caroline Kennedy, among others, joined him at Massachusetts General Hospital.
"Over the next couple of days, Senator Kennedy will undergo further evaluation to determine the cause of the seizure, and a course of treatment will be determined at that time," said Dr. Larry Ronan, who added Kennedy was "not in any immediate danger."
...
Sen. Kennedy recovering in hospital after seizure (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jQ0qyV1Z9XPXS6FFO5p2k9rV6HmwD90NTOMG1)
... Kennedy, the second-longest serving senator in office, has, over the years, become an institution on Capitol Hill. Which is why, when word came on a brilliant Saturday morning that Kennedy had been rushed to the hospital after suffering what was initially described as stroke-like symptoms (and later called a seizure), the news hit Washington like a small earthquake.
The reaction was not due to partisan concern — as when South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson was hospitalized with bleeding in the brain, shortly after the Democrats won control of the Senate in 2006 and the party feared losing his seat and control of the Senate. If anything were to happen to Kennedy, his seat would remain securely in Democratic hands, since a temporary replacement would be appointed by Massachusetts' Democratic Governor Deval Patrick until the next elections. The alarm felt by Democrats had little to do with the Senate's balance of power, but rather from contemplating for the first time the vacuum that Kennedy would leave behind. ...
In the Senate, Ted Kennedy Still Rules (http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1807447,00.html)
My wife has epilepsy, so seizures are something I know a little bit about. They will need to do a lot of testing to determine the root cause. It could be blood sugar, blood pressure, cardiac problem, mineral deficiency, alcohol abuse or a whole host of other reasons.
I wonder if the news of this event will heighten concerns about John McCain's age.