Fresh questions are swirling around Sen. Mitch McConnell’s health after a medical expert offered a grim assessment of the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican’s condition and warned that his long political career may be coming to an abrupt end.
McConnell has reportedly remained hospitalized for nearly three weeks after he was found unconscious at his Washington, D.C., home and rushed for emergency treatment.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, very little official information has been released about his current condition.
“Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized for almost three weeks at this point with very little information that has come out about his condition,” Hilary Booco, a speech-language pathologist at Colorado Brain Recovery, said in a video posted Friday evening.
Booco then raised an alarming question about just how serious McConnell’s condition may be.
“Now, it does sound like he is alive — on life support? I don’t know,” she said.
Booco stressed that she had no direct knowledge of McConnell’s treatment and was not part of his medical team. However, she said the limited information released publicly was deeply troubling.
A member of McConnell’s staff has reportedly said the senator is improving, but Booco questioned what that actually means.
“Someone within his staff has said that he is improving — what that means, we don’t know,” she said. “But here’s what we do know: even if he is alive, he is unfit to serve and he should not be finishing out his term through January.”
McConnell was rushed to the hospital in mid-June for what was initially described only as an undisclosed medical issue. New reports this week claimed he may have suffered a heart attack.
According to those reports, McConnell was found unconscious and unresponsive and required CPR after going into cardiac arrest.
Booco warned that such an episode can cut off oxygen to the brain, potentially creating serious neurological complications, particularly for someone of McConnell’s age and medical history.
“He was apparently found unconscious and unresponsive, required CPR due to cardiac arrest,” she said. “That typically means lack of oxygen to the brain, on a brain that has already suffered a lot, that is already 84.”
McConnell has faced a string of highly publicized health scares in recent years.
He was hospitalized in February after suffering flu-like symptoms and has also experienced multiple falls. He sparked widespread concern on two separate occasions when he suddenly froze and appeared unable to speak while answering questions from reporters.
The latest episode may be his most serious yet and could force the veteran senator to step away from public office before his term ends.
Booco said that, based on the publicly reported details, she would have major concerns about McConnell attempting to return to work.
“If I were a speech-language pathologist evaluating him and on his medical team, there would be significant concerns for even just the risk of going back to work on his prognosis,” she said.
“I would very likely say, given your age and health history, you should retire immediately.”
McConnell and his office have not publicly provided a detailed diagnosis or explained the full extent of his condition, leaving Washington insiders and the public waiting for answers as speculation over his political future continues to grow.

time for the old buzzard to pack it in