Doctor accuses Republicans of engaging in 'elder abuse' to prove McConnell isn't dead

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) remains in the hospital after a serious episode that reportedly included cardiac arrest and advanced life support, but his staffers refuse to communicate the exact status of his condition, beyond some of his political allies claiming they spoke with him over the phone and he is recovering.

But his exact physical state is just the beginning of the issue, vascular surgeon and Healthcare for Action founder Dr. Anahita Dua told The Daily Beast. Also at issue is the possibility that his allies are committing "elder abuse" in the course of downplaying his condition.

For one thing, noted the report, "the offices of senators John Thune and John Barrasso said they had spoken to him this week. GOP commentator Scott Jennings claimed he spoke to McConnell for 20 minutes. All three indicated they discussed policy, including Iran, Ukraine, and defense spending," but none of them offered details on his health and simply indicated he was "eager" to return to work. That is a red flag, Dua argued.

“Is it right for somebody who has just had a major cardiac event to be expected to go back to the floor and make major decisions with the level of stress?” she said. “I don’t think so. I think that’s elder abuse.”

“They call him for 20 minutes, and they talk about public policy? Like, how about ‘how you doing, man?’” she continued. “That’s terrible and stressful and not a very nice thing, and if I were his doctor, I would take away his phone.”

If McConnell's hospitalization is due to a heart attack, said Dua, he would need surgery to catheterize his heart and remove the blockage. “But if his heart did stop, and he did have decreased blood flow to a portion of his heart for a period of time, then recovery from that can take a while because now your heart muscle is literally damaged and doesn’t pump the way that it’s supposed to be pumping, and that can cause further problems moving forward,” she said. Even the mere act of CPR could have given him rib fractures.

None of this indicates a person who should be "eager" to get back to a high-stakes, high-stress job, she said — and even if he is on the road to recovery, it could take "months."

McConnell's hospitalization comes not long after Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) mysteriously vanished for months with an unspecified medical issue, only revealing upon his return that he was hospitalized for depression.