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Sen. Kennedy hospitalized after seizure

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-18 10:10

Health scares

Kennedy has been a vocal critic of Republican President George W. Bush, particularly on his Iraq war, tax cuts for the wealthy and conservative nominees to the US Supreme Court who he fears will push the high court to the right.

But he also worked closely with Republicans on legislation including Republican presidential candidate John McCain on the controversial immigration issue.

"He is a legendary lawmaker," McCain said in a statement. "When we have worked together, he has been a skillful, fair and generous partner. I consider it a great privilege to call him my friend."

File photo of Senator Kennedy at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston [Agencies]

The white-haired senator has had other brushes with ill health. He had preventive surgery at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital in October to unclog a partially blocked carotid artery in his neck.

The blockage was discovered during a routine check of Kennedy's back and spine, doctors said. A blocked carotid artery can lead to a stroke and death, they said at the time.

Kennedy has suffered from back problems since a plane crash in 1964 in which the pilot and one of Kennedy's aides were killed and the senator was pulled from the wreckage with a punctured lung, broken ribs and internal bleeding.

Kennedy came to the Senate in November 1962 to fill a seat earlier held by his older brother, then President John Kennedy. He currently serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

He ran for president in 1980, but his White House ambitions had never recovered from Chappaquiddick, the July 1969 accident when his car plunged off a bridge on a Massachusetts island and a young woman riding with him, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. Kennedy lost the 1980 party nomination to Jimmy Carter who failed in his bid for a second White House term.

His oldest brother, Joseph Jr, died as a World War II flier when his bomber exploded over the English Channel. John became America's first and so far only Roman Catholic president in 1960 and was assassinated in 1963. Robert was assassinated during his 1968 presidential campaign.

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