Fumo released from hospital; no heart attack

HARRISBURG - Sen. Vincent J. Fumo (D., Phila.) was discharged from Harrisburg Hospital this morning after collapsing on the Senate floor yesterday afternoon.

Hospital doctors ordered Fumo to rest today and he will do so at his Harrisburg residence.

Doctors said the collapse was caused by a combination of factors, including low blood sugar, dehydration, and the toll of long hours and bad eating habits during this week of budget negotations.

Fumo had a heart attack in 1977 and another one in early March.

The senator, a major player in budget negotiations, will be consulting with legislative leaders and Rendell administration officials by phone today and plans to return to the capital as early as tomorrow.

The deadline to approve the budget is Monday.

Gov. Rendell visited Fumo in the hospital last night, and the senator received calls from many lawmakers.

Fumo wanted to especially thank Sen. Pat Vance (R., Cumberland), a registered nurse who came to his aid on the Senate floor after his collapse and who stayed with him until he was placed in an ambulance.

Doctors said that additional blood tests would be done on Monday.

Fumo was in the middle of a private conversation with another senator when he collapsed, shortly after 5 p.m.

Tuma said Fumo told the paramedics that he did not lose consciousness and that he did not have chest pains.

"It seemed to be a temporary dizziness and light-headedness that caused him to go down, but other than that, he seemed to be fine," Tuma said yesterday.

"He didn't want to go to the hospital. He resisted," Tuma said.

Senators who witnessed Fumo's collapse later said the senator looked pale and tired but was otherwise coherent.

Paramedics who rushed to the Senate floor took Fumo's vital signs, connected him to an oxygen tube and took him out of the chamber in a wheelchair.

"The budget's going well," Fumo joked to an Associated Press reporter on his way out.

Tuma said Fumo had shown no sign earlier in the day of being ill or not feeling well. He had attended a number of budget meetings and had conducted several interviews with reporters.

Fumo, who is facing trial later this year on wide-ranging federal corruption charges, has had a number of health problems over the years.

He suffered his first heart attack in 1977, and he has been hospitalized for angina, which is chest pain due to a lack of blood and oxygen to the heart.

And in early March, he was eating dinner at his Spring Garden home when he began having chest pains and shortness of breath. At the hospital, doctors determined he suffered a heart attack and that his right coronary artery was 100 percent blocked.

Cardiologists performed emergency coronary angioplasty - a procedure to open the blockage - and inserted a metal stent to restore normal blood flow.

Soon after, Fumo announced that he would not be running again for his Senate seat. He said he did not think it was fair to ask voters to elect him "while there is a cloud hanging over my head" - a reference to the federal charges against him.

He is accused of exploiting his position and his staff to live lavishly at the expense of taxpayers, and of trying to block an FBI investigation into his conduct. He faces as many as 10 years in prison if convicted.

Fumo has maintained he is innocent and is fighting the charges.

He is scheduled to face trial in September.