The Fetterman Guarantee

By Michael Brendan Dougherty

Thursday, March 09, 2023

 

In an absolutely shocking piece of “journalism,” the New York Times profiles how the office of John Fetterman is operating while the senator recovers from severe depression and a stroke at Walter Reed Hospital.

 

There is so much in this report that is wrong, troubling, or outright horrifying that it cannot be covered in a single blog post or column. Here’s one: “It is not unusual for lawmakers to be told by members of their staff, sometimes after the fact, what bills they are co-sponsoring.” This is simply not true.

 

But the line that really jumped out at me was this:

 

When Mr. Fetterman checked himself into the hospital on Feb. 15, the lead doctor told him that his case was treatable and guaranteed he would get back to his old self. Post-stroke depression, doctors said, affects one in three people and can be very serious, but is also highly treatable.

 

What? Tell us the name of the doctor.

 

What kind of doctor would issue a guarantee that his patient, after admission into the mental hospital, will “get back to his old self”?

 

Let me remind you of what the New York Times reported last month, just days before Fetterman checked himself in:

 

It has been less than a year since the stroke transformed him from someone with a large stature that suggested machismo — a central part of his political identity — into a physically altered version of himself, and he is frustrated at times that he is not yet back to the man he once was. He has had to come to terms with the fact that he may have set himself back permanently by not taking the recommended amount of rest during the campaign.

 

“Permanently.”

 

That is — in February — readers were being prepared for the idea that Fetterman’s lack of proper rest after his stroke had permanently impaired his recovery. But, now, a doctor is confident enough to guarantee the opposite? We do not know if Fetterman’s stroke will leave him permanently afflicted, or how he will cope with the sudden midlife loss of some of his abilities. We don’t know how he will cope with the suspicion that he could have recovered more of his faculties had he suspended his campaign.

 

I’m left with a distressing question: Does anybody care about John Fetterman as a human being?