Congressional Morbidity and Mortality Watch: A Quickie Update
Might be a good idea to tell people where you are before you ghost for two+ months?
I have some sympathy for the representative here…
But…. could the representative not have mentioned that he was undergoing treatment when he started the treatment (if that’s indeed what happened)? [I apologize for the tortured grammar]
Rep. Kean’s absence was noted in this prior post:
Congressional Morbidity: Two Representatives Are Absent
As some of you may know, I have kept tabs on members of Congress (Representatives and Senators) who die while in office.
From that May post, Kean had been missing since after March 5, 2026.
I mentioned Frederica Wilson as well in that prior post. She’s not missed 100% of votes, according to the Missing Legislators page as of 30 Jun 2026, but there’s been a spotty record.
According to Ballotpedia, Wilson announced on May 29 that she’s not seeking re-election.
There are a few other people on that page.
The problem is, for other representatives, 2026 is an election year, and there are various primary election dates for different states. So various reps are missing votes, probably because they’ve been having election-related fundraisers, etc.
Hospitalized Senator McConnell, Hospitalized for…. what?
The problem is, of course, this calendar is also based on when they actually have votes, so it also missed news like this:
Yes, McConnell is hospitalized:
16 Jun 2024, CBS News: Mitch McConnell admitted to the hospital and “receiving excellent care,” spokesperson says
Washington — Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell was admitted to a hospital Sunday morning, a spokesperson for the former Senate majority leader confirmed to CBS News.
“He is receiving excellent care,” spokesperson Dave Popp said in a statement Sunday. No details were provided on why the Kentucky senator was admitted or which hospital.
In a statement Monday, Popp said McConnell “is fully engaged with staff on Senate business and Kentucky matters.”
…..
McConnell, a childhood polio survivor, has faced several health scares in recent years. In a May 19 committee hearing, he was seen with a bandage around his hand. In February, Popp said McConnell spent more than a week in the hospital after he checked himself in for “flu-like symptoms.”
In 2023, he was hospitalized with a concussion after a fall and later appeared to freeze in two separate instances. He suffered minor injuries in 2024 after another fall.
McConnell is 84 years old. He is also not seeking re-election (his term ends January 2027).
I wrote the following when he fell in Oct 2025:
Falls are Dangerous: RIP, Ace Frehley and Watch Out, Sen. McConnell
First, RIP to a big part of my childhood:
This was also when Ace Frehley, age 74, died due to a fall.
I noted the following:
Ivana Trump died via W10 (slipped on her own stairs and fell) — she was 72 years old when she died. Joe Lieberman died from falling in his home — seemed a W18 (on same level); he was 82.
The “W10” and “W18” are ICD-10 codes, used for recording causes of death and injuries.
Falls are a large percentage of accidental causes of death for seniors.
At McConnell’s age, there may not be anything specific he’s in the hospital for.
I mean, yes, there may be a specific concerning symptom, but it may be something systemic, because… look, there’s a reason that there is an increasing number of causes of death on death certificates, and it’s not due to changes in practice. (and it’s not due to COVID — this trend happened 1999-2018)
I’m not going to update my Senatorial age distribution graph (about a year and a half old), as I update it after an election or a death:
Yes, there are a lot of old(er) folks in the Senate. Thus, the name.
Enough of that. In decades past, plenty of the aging and ailing senex (I forget how to decline the noun) got to hang out in the toniest hospitals in the DC area without the hoi-polloi needing to worry about it.
Rest well, Sen. McConnell.
On mental health and men
I don’t have much to say about Rep. Kean, other than it would have been well for him to have said that he was having a health issue (he didn’t even have to say a mental health issue) and was being treated… something, anything.
But, the problem was likely that his depression was preventing him from getting anything useful done. Like communications.
I didn’t post anything about it this month (I have to brutally prioritize things myself), but June is Men’s Mental Health Month. This links to my support of the Movember Foundation, which supports Men’s Health issues.
Last year, I recorded a podcast episode on Men and Suicide in the U.S.:
Men's Health Week: Men and Suicide in the U.S.
In this episode of STUMP, I talk about the trends and sex gap in death by suicide in the U.S. This is just talking the numbers, so it’s fairly dispassionate, looking at the trend over the decades and by age groups. If you don’t want to hear the episode, you may want to look at the post on Substack (website or app), where I have posted graphs and tables…
Well, I’m getting something in under the line — it may be the last day, but I’m still getting something in!
I’m linking to one man’s story:
Duplass is about my age (a couple years younger than me), so 20 years ago would have been 30 years old. He’s an actor, writer, and producer: IMDb listing. His stuff is not to my taste, but that’s not my point.
Even early on, it looks like he was having a successful career, but lots of men who look like they’re doing well from the outside are not doing well mentally, emotionally, and in other health dimensions.
As I noted last year:
If I split out ranked causes of death by sex for the U.S., suicide is in the top ten for males every year, and not in the top ten for females.
It’s been getting worse in terms of rates.
Certain subgroups, such as younger veterans, have had even worse experience.
I will link only a few of the related posts for this topic, but the stark trends have been the reasons I have been supporting Movember beyond prostate cancer interests.
Men and Mental Health
Nov 2025: Movember 2025: Veterans and Suicide
Jun 2025: Podcast: Men’s Health Week: Men and Suicide in the U.S.
Nov 2022: Movember 2022: The Sex Gap in Suicide
Political Morbidity and Mortality Selections
May 2026: Congressional Morbidity: Two Representatives Are Absent
22 Apr 2026: Congressional Mortality Update 2026: RIP, Rep. David Scott, 80
9 Jan 2026: Congressional Mortality 2026 Update: More Consequences
25 May 2025: Political Mortality Update: Yes, A THIRD Democratic Representative Died in 2025
10 Apr 2025: Congressional Mortality Has Consequences
25 Jan 2025: 2025 Update on Senate Demographics
Sep 2023: Politicians: Don’t Tempt the Reaper
April 2022: All Men Must Die, But They Don’t Have to Die in Office
May 2023: A Sampling of Political Mortality