LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was released from the hospital Monday five days after tripping and falling at an event.
The 81-year-old Kentucky senator fell March 8 at an evening at a reception at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington.
Spokesman David Popp issued a statement the next day that said McConnell was being treated for a concussion and would be in the hospital "a few days." Popp said Monday that McConnell also broke a rib and will need physical therapy at an inpatient rehab facility.
"Leader McConnell's concussion recovery is proceeding well and the Leader was discharged from the hospital today," a statement from McConnell's office said Monday. "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. Over the course of treatment this weekend, the Leader's medical team discovered that he also suffered a minor rib fracture on Wednesday, for which he is also being treated."
Popp also said McConnell and his wife, Elaine Chao, are "deeply thankful for the skilled medical care, prayers, and kindness they have received.”
In 2019, McConnell tripped and fell at his home in Kentucky, suffering a shoulder fracture that required surgery. The Senate had just started a summer recess, and he worked from home for some weeks as he recovered.
First elected in 1984, McConnell in January became the longest-serving Senate leader when the new Congress convened, breaking the previous record of 16 years.
The taciturn McConnell is often reluctant to discuss his private life. But at the start of the COVID-19 crisis, he opened up about his early childhood experience fighting polio. He described how his mother insisted that he stay off his feet as a toddler and worked with him through a determined physical therapy regime. He has acknowledged some difficulty in adulthood climbing stairs.
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