Vermont Sen. Leahy will undergo surgery after he breaks hip during fall

Patrick Leahy, 82, is the longest serving sitting senator

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy is suffering a broken hip as a result of a fall at his McLean, Virginia, house on Wednesday night. 

In a statement, the 82-year-old Democrat's office said that he would undergo surgery to repair the hip on Thursday morning. 

"Having been born blind in one eye, the senator has had a lifelong struggle with reduced depth perception.  He has taken some remarkable dingers over the years but this one finally caught up with him," Leahy's office said. 

Doctors determined the best course of action would be to have surgery "as soon as possible," his office said.

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FILE - Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., listens as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense, May 3, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Leahy has broken a hip in a fall at his home and was to undergo surgery to repair it, his office said Thursday, June 30, 2022. The 82-year-old Democrat fell Wednesday night in McLean, Virginia, the statement said.  (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/The Washington Post via AP, Pool, File)

"He is expected to make a full recovery and begin a healthy course of physical therapy immediately," it wrote. 

Leahy is the longest-serving sitting senator. 

In November, he announced that he will not seek re-election this fall. 

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., arrives at a news conference at the Capitol March 7, 2018, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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By the end of his term in January 2023, Leahy will have served in the Senate for 48 years.

In January of last year, Leahy was taken to the hospital just hours after he had begun presiding over the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. 

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the president pro tempore of the Senate, arrives at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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The senator had been taken to the hospital out of an abundance of caution, as he was not feeling well. He was examined and sent home.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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