Maryland Senator Falls Ill at Funeral

[norml]

11:15 AM PDT, May 16, 2005 latimes.com : Nation E-mail story Print Most E-Mailed

Maryland Senator Falls Ill at Funeral
By Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. -- Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland fainted Monday while attending a funeral for former Rep. Peter W. Rodino Jr., a colleague during the Watergate investigation.

Sarbanes, a 72-year-old Democrat, briefly passed out toward the end of the service, and had to be helped from the church by first-aid workers.

"He had been standing for a while. He felt faint, he sat down, and had a brief fainting spell," his spokesman, Jesse Jacobs, said from Washington about an hour after the incident. "We just got off the phone with him. He's alert and joking."

Sarbanes was transported to University Hospital. The hospital had no immediate word on his condition.



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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-sarbanes-illness,1,2063212.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[Kadie]

1. Maryland Senator Falls Ill at Funeral (Sen. Paul Sarbanes)

Maryland Senator Falls Ill at Funeral

Monday, May 16, 2005


(05-16) 11:15 PDT Newark, N.J. (AP) --


Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland fainted Monday while attending a funeral for former Rep. Peter W. Rodino Jr., a colleague during the Watergate investigation.


Sarbanes, a 72-year-old Democrat, briefly passed out toward the end of the service, and had to be helped from the church by first-aid workers.


"He had been standing for a while. He felt faint, he sat down, and had a brief fainting spell," his spokesman, Jesse Jacobs, said from Washington about an hour after the incident. "We just got off the phone with him. He's alert and joking."


Sarbanes was transported to University Hospital. The hospital had no immediate word on his condition.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/05/16/national/a111549D39.DTL

[merwin]

4. Some strokes start with fainting, and then feeling fine even with the

completely clogged artery. Could be very serious still.

[Roland99]

2. Low blood sugar? Blood pressure problem? Got too warm?

Sounds like he's ok.

[AngryAmish]

3. Was this done so he would miss the filibuster vote?

[lady lib]

5. Can't tell from the article if he was standing in the heat.

[flordehinojos]

6. sometimes the need to use the bathroom facilities and not being able to,

can cause people to faint. Maybe that is all he needed.

[tabasco]

7. Get well soon Senator Sarbanes !!

You and Senator Mikulski have made me so proud !

I hope its nothing serious.

[deadparrot]

8. Hope he's okay.

Best wishes for his recovery.

[The White Tree]

10. Ditto

Sending a prayer his way. If he had to step down I think the Governor would get to assign someone and he would choose a Republican, possibly his Lt. Governor who is going to be running for the seat anyway.

[Divernan]

9. Good men & women will postpone retirement to slow Bush down.

72 is too old to have to work as hard as a Democrat US Senator has to work in these troubled times. God bless him and Senator Byrd and every other man and woman who has more than earned a few years of healthy retirement, after years of public service, but puts their country's welfare ahead of their personal
health and welfare. Maryland has two great Senators, and we in other states are grateful to them for their efforts - none more grateful than we poor Pennsylvanians who have the vicious Santorum and the wimpy Specter.

[AlGore-08.com]

11. Didn't Sarbanes say he was going to retire at the end of this term?

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

Holding a good thought for Senator Sarbanes' quick recovery...

[CBHagman]

12. Yes, he is planning to retire.

I also seem to recall he has had some long-term health problems, though I could be mistaken in that.

In all, he's a wonderfully principled and decent senator and a true asset in the Congress. Godspeed and gute Bessering, Senator!

[baby_bear]

13. He might have had his knees "locked"

When I was in marching band, every year at least one person would faint while we were standing in place waiting to start the march, because he or she had locked their knees. I guess this must somehow lower blood pressure and take blood away from the brain, causing lightheadedness enough to faint. It wasn't serious at all and of course these were all healthy young people.

Hopefully that's all it is with Sen. Sarbanes, since in fact he was standing for some period of time.

b_b

[Zan_of_Texas]

14. I don't know about the knees, but I know it happened to me in band!

We were wearing winter wool uniforms, and had a summer marching band gig. Had to stand on black asphalt for what seemed like hours while politicians droned on, in hot humid heat.

The last thing I remembered was my body swaying by itself, even though I was trying to stand still.

I fully recovered minutes later, in an airconditioned building next to where we were. Just fainted, that was all. Wasn't too far from where the incident just happened with the Senator, but years ago.

Hope he's fine.