Bernie Sanders Faces New Questions About Continuing Campaign After Heart Attack, 3rd Health Incident This Year

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who turned 78-years-old about one month ago, was hospitalized last Wednesday for what his campaign described as “chest discomfort.” But three days later, Sanders’ campaign announced that the Vermont senator had suffered more than mere “discomfort,” resulting in a “procedure” for a blocked artery. Instead, they revealed, Sanders had a heart attack. But though Sanders said he would soon return to the campaign trail and planned to take part in the next Democratic debate on October 15, the heart attack raised fresh concerns about Sanders’ “age, health and ability to keep up with the rigors of a national campaign” according to The Washington Post.

But until the announcement that Sanders had, as was widely suspected, suffered a mild heart attack, few media outlets raised questions about his ability to continue campaigning — even though Sanders, if he were to win the presidency, would be the oldest person ever to take office, at age 79 years and four months at the time of his inauguration on January 2, 2021. At age 70 years and seven months, Donald Trump currently holds the record as the oldest man to be inaugurated.

According to the National Institute of Health data, the median life expectancy for patients over the age of 75 who suffer a heart attack is 3.1 years. Of patients over the age of 65, about one of every four, 24 percent, die within one year after suffering a heart attack, while slightly more than half, 51 percent, do not survive a full five years.

As MediaIte noted, the relatively subdued reaction in the media to Sanders campaign’s delay in revealing his heart attack contrasted sharply with the reaction in 2016 when a Democratic nominee endured a bout of walking pneumonia, and she faced immediate speculation about whether she would drop out, or be forced out, of the presidential general election race.

But for Sanders, the heart attack was the third health incident so far this year since he announced what had long seemed to be his inevitable second run for president on February 19. As The Inquisitr reported, just a few weeks after his announcement, Sanders suffered what he said was an accident in a bathroom, in which, he claimed he somehow struck his head on a shower door resulting in seven stitches on the left side of his forehead.

But beyond the sketchy details about the shower door, the Sanders campaign never released full details of the circumstances that led to Sander’s injury, or whether his brain was affected by the impact with the shower door.

Then, less than one month ago in September, Sanders canceled several campaign appearances complaining of what he said was a hoarse voice, as The Inquisitr reported.