Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar’s visit to the hospital was due to diverticulitis — an intestinal condition — and he is postponing his return to D.C. for now as a precaution, an agency official said.
Mr. Azar was slated to testify before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Thursday, though that appearance will be postponed.
For now, the secretary is resting at home in Indiana — his family has not relocated to the nation’s capital yet — after a stay at St. Vincent, a hospital in Indianapolis, from Sunday evening to Monday morning.
The agency said Mr. Azar is a “hard charger” who has been engaged and in contact with agency personnel during his ordeal, but his doctor and wife wanted him to ease up as a precaution. He is expected to return to the office relatively soon — just not on Tuesday, as initially planned.
“This is really just a forced slowdown to make sure he fully recovers, that he’s doing OK,” an agency official said.
The official said HHS is limited in what it can say about Mr. Azar, given privacy rules around patients, though disclosed he suffered from his first brush with diverticulitis — a condition in which pouches form around the lining of the digestive system and can become infected or inflamed, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The bulging pouches, or diverticula, are common in persons over 40 years old; Mr. Azar is 50.
Sen. John McCain is also suffering from diverticulitis. He had surgery in Arizona on Sunday for an infection related to the disease.
The Republican is in stable condition and has been away from D.C. while he recovers from the side effects of cancer treatments.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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