Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at the
Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 27,
2012. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was
admitted to a New York hospital Sunday after the discovery of a blood
clot stemming from the concussion she sustained earlier this month.
Clinton's doctors discovered the clot Sunday while performing a
follow-up exam, her spokesman, Philippe Reines, said. He would not
elaborate on the location of the clot but said Clinton is being treated
with anti-coagulants and would remain at New York-Presbyterian Hospital
for at least the next 48 hours so doctors can monitor the medication.
"Her doctors will continue to assess her condition,
including other issues associated with her concussion," Reines said in a
statement. "They will determine if any further action is required."
Clinton, 65, fell and suffered a concussion while at home alone in
mid-December as she recovered from a stomach virus that left her
severely dehydrated. The concussion was diagnosed Dec. 13 and Clinton
was forced to cancel a trip to North Africa and the Middle East that had
been planned for the next week.
The seriousness of a blood clot "depends on where it is," said Dr.
Gholam Motamedi, a neurologist at Georgetown University Medical Center
who was not involved in Clinton's care.
Clots in the legs are a common risk after someone has been bedridden,
as Clinton may have been for a time after her concussion. Those are "no
big deal" and are treated with six months of blood thinners to allow
them to dissolve on their own and to prevent further clots from forming,
he said.
A clot in a lung or the brain is more serious. Lung clots, called
pulmonary embolisms, can be deadly, and a clot in the brain can cause a
stroke, Motamedi said.
Keeping Clinton in the hospital for a couple of days could allow
doctors to perform more tests to determine why the clot formed, and to
rule out a heart problem or other condition that may have led to it, he
said.
Dr. Larry Goldstein, a neurologist who is director of Duke
University's stroke center, said blood can pool on the surface of the
brain or in other areas of the brain after a concussion, but those would
not be treated with blood thinners, as Clinton's aide described.
Clinton
was forced to cancel Dec. 20 testimony before Congress about a scathing
report into the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in
Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other
Americans. The report found that serious failures of leadership and
management in two State Department bureaus were to blame for
insufficient security at the facility. Clinton took responsibility for
the incident before the report was released, but she was not blamed.
Some conservative commentators suggested Clinton was faking the
seriousness of her illness and concussion to avoid testifying, although
State Department officials vehemently denied that was the case.
Lawmakers at the hearings – including Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman who has been nominated by
President Barack Obama to succeed Clinton – offered her their best
wishes.
Last Thursday, before the discovery of the blood clot, Reines said Clinton was expected to return to work this week.
The former first lady and senator, who had always planned to step
down as America's top diplomat in January, is known for her grueling
travel schedule. She is the most traveled secretary of state in history,
having visited 112 countries while in the job.
Clinton is considered a front-runner for the Democratic presidential
nomination in 2016, although she has not announced plans to run.
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