Ted Kennedy Rushed To Hospital
BOSTON, Massachusetts – Senator Edward Kennedy was rushed to a hospital in Massachusetts Saturday morning, his office confirmed.
Kennedy was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for evaluation after initial treatment at Cape Cod Hospital, a statement from his office said.
The senator spent less than an hour in the Cape Cod facility, hospital spokesman David Reilly said.
Massachusetts General said it had no information on Kennedy.
A well-informed Democratic source in Massachusetts said the 76-year-old senator had “symptoms of a stroke” at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port.
An official with the Hyannis Fire Department said it received a 911 call from the Kennedy compound at 8:19 a.m. and transported a patient to the hospital, arriving at 8:50 a.m. The official would not be more specific.
Kennedy had surgery in October to clear his carotid artery in hopes of preventing a stroke. Colleagues said he had recovered quickly and was working energetically recently.
He suffers chronic back pain from injuries suffered in a plane crash in 1964. Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the Senate since 1962. He is one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40 years. He is known as a liberal champion of social issues such as health care, family leave, and the minimum wage.
He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1980. He has endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the 2008 nomination. Obama said that his “thoughts and prayers” are with Kennedy.
“We are going to try to find out as quickly as possible what is going on,” Obama said, and added that he would call Kennedy’s wife, Vicky.
“He is one of my favorite people,” Obama said.
Kennedy is the youngest of nine children in the famous family of Joseph and Rose Kennedy. His oldest brother, Joe, died in World War II; two other brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy, were both assassinated in the 1960s.
