Updated at 9:33 p.m.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., underwent emergency hip replacement surgery Thursday and was recovering at a hospital in the Washington, D.C., area, according to his Senate office.
The 82-year-old senator was hospitalized after falling Wednesday night at his home in McLean, Virginia, and breaking his hip, his office said.
“Having been born blind in one eye, the Senator has had a lifelong struggle with reduced depth perception,” Leahy’s office said in a written statement Thursday morning. “He has taken some remarkable dingers over the years but this one finally caught up with him.”
Doctors recommended he undergo surgery to repair his hip, “as soon as possible,” Leahy’s office wrote. In a second statement Thursday evening, his office said that the surgery had been successful and that he “is expected to begin a physical therapy regimen after sufficient healing” that should enable him to take daily walks with his wife, Marcelle Leahy.
“Patrick and Marcelle are overwhelmed and humbled by the outpouring of support, and they are deeply grateful for all of the kind and encouraging messages they have received,” Leahy’s office said.
Since the U.S. Senate is on a weeklong recess for the Independence Day holiday, Leahy’s absence should not pose immediate problems for the razor-thin Democratic majority. But because the Senate is divided 50-50, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris casting tie-breaking votes, a prolonged recovery could slow his party’s agenda.
Leahy was briefly hospitalized last year after presiding over the impeachment trial of then-President Donald Trump. The senator later said he had sought care after experiencing muscle spasms and that doctors had since given him a “clean bill of health.”
Leahy has represented Vermont in the U.S. Senate for nearly half a century. He announced last November that he would not run for reelection this year.