Dem Senate Candidate John Fetterman Releases a Doozy of a Letter From His Doctor – Opinion

Current Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor and Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate. John Fetterman suffered a stroke just before May’s primary. Fortunately, he is now recovering.

But a lot of people, even some in the media, have raised questions because they feel they weren’t hearing the whole story behind the stroke from the Fetterman team–that the details that had been released indicated more serious issues that hadn’t been enunciated.

Fetterman’s campaign previously claimed that the pacemaker had helped him regulate his atrial fibrillation. This irregular rhythm, also called A-fib (or A-fib), led to his May stroke. Outside doctors stated that A-fib is not treated by defibrillators and asked if there was another condition.

As Townhall noted, even Democrats were puzzled about what was going on because they weren’t getting answers from him on when he would be back on the trail.

John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate is not able to set a date for his return to campaigning. This worries some in the party almost three weeks after Fetterman suffered a stroke. Surgeons also implanted a pacemaker and a defibrillator into Fetterman’s heartbeat to control it.

Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor, has appeared publicly only in recorded video since the stroke. His wife spoke on his behalf to the media. And the situation has prompted Democrats to refresh their knowledge of state ballot-replacement law — the deadline is in August — according to two party sources who said they don’t anticipate a candidate switch being necessary.

Still, some of Fetterman’s fellow Democrats say they are worried both about his health and what they describe as a lack of transparency from his team about just what happened when he was hospitalized last month.

According to the report, Democratic Party folks said they were “very nervous” and others were looking at the question of what they might have to do to switch candidates.

Fetterman, however, dropped the letter and released a statement for Friday.

One of Dr. Ramesh Chaudra’s letters was a mammoth one. The full text is worth reading.

John Fetterman has come under fire for failing to provide more information about his condition after his stroke. His doctor released a letter stating that he had been first diagnosed with irregular heart beat in 2017. Said he ignored doctor’s advice for five years until he had a stroke pic.twitter.com/1LpZ1J214S

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 3, 2022

The doctor said he had first seen Fetterman back in 2017 for swelling in his feet, at which point he diagnosed “atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm along with a decreased heart pump.” He prescribed medications, along with diet and exercise, and asked Fetterman to follow up with him in the following months.

He wrote: “Instead, I did not see him again until yesterday. John did not go to any doctor for 5 years and did not continue taking his medications.” The doctor noted that Fetterman was now stable, and he has a “pacemaker-defibrillator.” He said he had spoken with Fetterman the day before, and that while afib was the cause of his stroke, he also has cardiomyopathy, which is why he has the pacemaker. That’s part of what they hadn’t been revealing. Dr. Fetterman said that if Fetterman follows all instructions, takes his medicines, is healthy, exercises as prescribed, and takes the medications as prescribed, then he will be okay.

Fetterman released a letter himself, saying essentially he’d learned his lesson and could have died. But he also said he still wasn’t ready to get back on the campaign trail.

JUST IN: A statement. @JohnFettermanHe admits that he almost died because he did not take enough care of his own health. For five years, he hadn’t seen a doctor. Note from doc that suggests that, if he remains healthy, “he should have the ability to campaign and serve as a senator in the United States without any problems.” pic.twitter.com/J2NgCvOfCl

— Ed O’Keefe (@edokeefe) June 3, 2022

But there’s something still a little odd about this. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who’s an interventional cardiologist (and a CNN medical analyst), laid it out — why is the letter from a doctor who hadn’t seen him in five years until the day before, rather than the doctors who treated him for the stroke and/or who put in the pacemaker? As such, it’s still missing details.

It’s not a very good letter. First of all it’s not from the docs who treated Fetterman last month. It’s from someone who saw him in 2017 & not again until yesterday who basically says “Don’t blame me”. Doesn’t describe residual neuro deficit or why ICD was implanted during that admission. https://t.co/6XilcLyhXQ

— Jonathan Reiner (@JReinerMD) June 3, 2022

Let’s get to the bottom of it. It’s good that he’s finally getting treatment and he’s stable. They appear to have attempted to bully people about his health and made a public statement only after it became clear that Democrats had issues with the situation. Even now, we’re still not getting the whole story. This raises big questions about transparency.

Red State broke the news earlier that Fetterman would face Dr. Mehmet O, a TV personality who is also a surgeon, in the midterms. David McCorkmick, meanwhile, was the GOP’s opponent. He conceded Friday’s primary.