My bet: Mitch McConnell is brain dead and on life support

[AverageOldGuy]

This from the NYTimes:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/us/politics/mitch-mcconell-health-hospitalization.html

Emergency responders the morning the Kentucky Republican was hospitalized reported performing CPR on an unconscious individual undergoing cardiac arrest at the senator’s Washington address, according to recordings of dispatcher calls that were widely reported by news outlets last week and obtained by The New York Times. The recordings do not name Mr. McConnell as the individual.

Recordings of emergency dispatcher radio communications logged between 8:36 a.m. and 8:43 a.m. that Sunday indicate that dispatchers initially called for medics to respond to a report of an “unconscious” individual at Mr. McConnell’s Washington address. Six minutes later, a worker with the city’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department responded, asking that his supervisor be informed of “CPR in progress.”

NO, I'm not a physician and don't pretend to be. However, I am an EMT -- retired now -- and until two years ago I ran rescue for 14 years in a rural Virginia county. The description of the medic response, the radio traffic, and other details are EXACTLY what happens when an individual goes into cardiac arrest -- heart stops beating. I have responded to more of these calls than I like to think about.

This NYT article tells me that McConnell collapsed. Someone may have checked him out immediately, found him unconscious, unresponsive, not breathing, no pulse, and -- if they knew what they were doing -- they (1) started CPR, (2) shouted to anyone around to find and AED, (3) told bystanders to call 911 and report CPR in progress.

The AED -- Automated External Defibrillator -- is a portable, battery-powered electronic medical device used to treat individuals experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. It analyzes the heart's rhythm and, if necessary, delivers an electrical shock to help restore a normal heartbeat

Outside the hospital, if an AED is applied within 2-3 minutes of cardiac arrest, the recovery rates is less than 10%. Inside the hospital, recovery is about 18%. Basically, if you go into cardiac arrest, you are dead.

The radio traffic indicates it was AT LEAST SEVEN MINUTES before medics responded -- that is, got underway to the location -- and another six minutes before anyone reported CPR IN PROGRESS. No indication as to when medics were on the scene, no indication that an AED was used.

McConnell is brain dead and being kept "alive" by a breathing machine. He will not recover.

[2naSalit]

1. And will stay that way...

Until his wife pulls the plug.

I'm willing to bet that she was told to leave the country until it's too late to appoint a replacement. After that, she can come home and pull the plug. I'm sure she'll be rewarded handsomely for it.

[mahina]

15. Oh, that makes so much sense.

I was baffled. Good call.

[littlemissmartypants]

18. Exactly.

[Blues Heron]

2. let him die with dignity - pull the plug

[buzzycrumbhunger]

7. LOL--dignity? McTurtle?

But yeah, pull the damned plug and let’s get on with it!

[dweller]

3. The Pisswig hates him

And will keep any info about him covered up much like he kept the USS John S. McCain out of sight .

😑



✌🏻

[calimary]

4. He's been hospitalized for three weeks, according to the NYT report.

He’s very old, and has not been known for his vitality for quite some time.

Are they keeping him technically alive? And for what purpose?

[Shipwack]

12. Election laws.

If there are less than three months until the general election when he is declared dead, they can’t hold a special election.

As an added tidbit, he can’t be taken off life support unless his wife is there to agree… and guess who just fled to went to China on a “diplomatic mission”.

[calimary]

13. Yeah. I noticed that.

That’s one heckuva way to ditch the old man. Hightail it all the way to the other side of the world when he’s this close to death.

[canetoad]

17. This would be

What Mitch wanted.

[littlemissmartypants]

19. And he still gets a paycheck.

[Frasier Balzov]

5. Democratic U.S. Senators should propose a Constitutional amendment.

Establishing proper recourse for the incapacitation of legislators.

It's a way of pointing to a problem which many will not be aware of because asking "Where's Mitch" would be considered bad form.

[Ms. Toad]

8. It is up to each state. n/t

[Frasier Balzov]

9. It's up to the political party to keep incapacitation a secret.

The state is excused from acting if no information about the missing Senator is forthcoming.

[littlemissmartypants]

20. Ding. Ding. Ding.

The honor system is definitely dead. It doesn't deserve life support anymore than McConnell.

We have no recourse in this type of situation.

Cognitive assessments and psychological assessments could have saved us a lot of grief in so many situations. I can think of three current examples right off the top of my head.

[Sympthsical]

6. CPR on the elderly is extremely unpleasant

You haven't lived until you've heard the snapping and cracking of their ribs because grandma just really has a strong will to live!

Even if McConnell is alive and has neurological function, I guarantee he's on all of the Dilaudid right about now.

[littlemissmartypants]

22. Or Fentanyl. But can they keep him alive long enough to beat the election requirement time-line?

The doctors may have to be willing to take bribes.

[not fooled]

10. Nothing too ghoulish or unseemly

when GQPee power is at stake.

Prolong the existence of a brain-dead near-corpse? No problemo!

[C Moon]

11. A relative of mine passed out at home, and her husband called 911.

She died just before the EMT got there. They worked on her and brought her back at the hospital, but she had been dead for 2 or 3 minutes. They put her on ice or something to revive her, which I found weird, but it worked.

We visited her in the hospital and she was commenting on things that weren't even happening. Her husband told us that it was going to take months for her to regain her normal brain behavior.

It took her years for her to become close to what she was before, but she has never become the same: she always seems distant.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

14. What does his wife say??

[niyad]

16. She is in China right now.

[BigmanPigman]

21. His staff is lying and this should be against the law.

They are lying so that he won't be replaced by a Dem before they can plan for his evil replacement. I hate Turtle as much as I hate tRump. Dying of a heart attack is not a painful, long illness that will make him bankrupt like he wanted for Americans by destroying the ACA. He fucked the country for decades and took away our legit SCOTUS. I want him to suffer in agonizing pain, not falling into a peaceful coma.

Pull the plug on his life support.