Rep. Dingell hospitalized for surgery on perforated ulcer

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) was hospitalized after undergoing an emergency surgery Friday for a perforated ulcer, according to an announcement from her office. 

Mackenzie Smith, a spokesperson for Dingell, said in a statement to multiple news outlets that the procedure at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., was “successful” and that the congresswoman “is recovering well.” 

Dingell is expected to stay in the hospital for about a week as she recovers from the surgery, according to reports from the Detroit Free Press and local radio station WWJ. 

In an interview on WWJ Saturday, Dingell said she had experienced stomach pain during the week, but added she was “busy” with President Biden’s visit to a Ford plant in Dearborn, Mich., a facility that is included in Dingell’s congressional district. 

By Friday morning, however, Dingell said she “was on fire” on her way back to Dearborn from Washington. 

“I just knew I couldn’t get on the plane,” she told WWJ. “I called my doctor, who sent me straight to the Emergency Room. They took one look at me and they knew I had a perforated ulcer,” she said. “I was in surgery within three hours.”

“But I’m okay,” she added, though she conceded that she “may have to give up Diet Coke and junk food.”

Dingell revealed in the radio interview that she believed the cause of her ulcer was Motrin she took for an infection in her jaw. 

“I’m not someone who drinks, I stay so far away from NSAIDs and pain pills,” she said. “I never ever take them. But because I had an infection in the bone of my jaw, I had taken a lot of Motrin. Doctors warned me NSAIDs could cause this.”

Dingell said was was “grateful” for the doctors and nurses treating her, as well as the support from her Michigan community. 

“I’m so grateful to have the friends I do. It really means a lot,” she explained. “And I’m lucky.”

The Hill has reached out to Dingell’s office for additional information on the lawmaker’s surgery and recovery. 

Dingell was elected to Congress in 2014 to fill the seat of her husband, John Dingell, upon his retirement. Her husband passed away in 2019 after a battle with prostate cancer.