U.S. Defense Secretary Austin taken to hospital with symptoms suggesting “emergent bladder issue.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was taken to a hospital Sunday to be evaluated for symptoms “suggesting an emergent bladder issue,” the Pentagon said, less than a month after he spent nearly two weeks in intensive care with complications from a surgery to treat prostate cancer.
Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement that Austin’s security team transported him to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center about 2:20 p.m.
The White House, Congress, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and the Pentagon’s top military officer, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., all have been notified, Ryder said in a brief statement.
“At this time, the Secretary is retaining the functions and duties of his office,” Ryder said.
“The Deputy Secretary is prepared to assume the functions and duties of the Secretary of Defense, if required.
Secretary Austin traveled to the hospital with the unclassified and classified communications systems necessary to perform his duties.”
The situation marks the latest health setback for the Pentagon chief, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December and underwent surgery to treat it Dec. 22.
He was taken back to Walter Reed by ambulance from his home in Northern Virginia on Jan. 1 and placed in intensive care for days with side effects that included intense pain and infections of the urinary tract and bladder.
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