Spokesman says bleeding ulcer was behind 86-year-old NJ Sen. Lautenberg’s hospitalization
By APTuesday, February 16, 2010
Spokesman: Ulcer put NJ’s Lautenberg in hospital
CLIFFSIDE PARK, N.J. — A bleeding ulcer was behind the hospitalization of longtime New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg this week, an aide said Tuesday.
The 86-year-old Democrat underwent a successful endoscopy procedure, spokesman Caley Gray said. Lautenberg is expected “to make a full recovery and will be back to work soon,” Gray said.
The senator was taken to a hospital Monday after becoming lightheaded and falling at his Cliffside Park home. His office announced Monday night that he was in great spirits, was joking with doctors and would stay there overnight for routine observation.
Lautenberg returned Friday from a trip to Haiti with a congressional delegation. He was scheduled to discuss the trip and the U.S. aid effort for the Caribbean nation, which is recovering from a devastating earthquake, at a news conference Tuesday. His office has not said whether he is still expected to attend.
Lautenberg, born in Paterson, first came to prominence as chairman of Automatic Data Processing, a payroll services company he founded with two friends in 1952.
The liberal Lautenberg has been a staunch gun control advocate and critic of the tobacco industry. He wrote laws to ban smoking on domestic airline flights and to institute a national minimum drinking age of 21.
He has been back in the spotlight recently as a critic of the Transportation Security Administration after a January security breach at Newark Liberty International Airport. He also was active in the effort to end a custody dispute with Brazil involving the son of Tinton Falls, N.J., resident David Goldman.
