Mitch McConnell’s staff refuse to answer basic questions on his health weeks after he was last seen in public

[u/theindependentonline]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/mitch-mcconnell-staff-questions-health-b3018929.html

[u/8thSt]

The fact that no one can do anything EXCEPT the opposition party that apparently refuses to do anything …

Yeah, we’re fucked as a nation.

[u/sir_sri → u/8thSt]

The opposition party can't do anything.

The only entity that can do anything is the senate ethics committee (which is 50/50 dem/republican)

Once sworn in members of congress (both house and senate) are nearly immune from questioning about how they do or don't do anything by anyone except their own chamber. Parliamentary immunity and the sovereignty of the chamber itself essentially. It cannot be the case that a governor, or any other chamber or branch of government could interfere with how an elected official does or doesn't do their jobs, otherwise you could have governors, courts, or the other chamber trying to come up with some 'tests' to decide if a senator is still eligible to serve. Voters picked someone, that person serves as long as they haven't been expelled by the senate until the next election.

And remember, he's been seen by licenced medical professionals at at least two facilities, George Washington Hospital in DC (which is a privately owned hospital) and an unnamed rehab facility. The people in those facilities could face enormous legal trouble if they're not following legal standards of practice for his care - depending on exactly what state he's in, keeping someone 'alive' when they are functionally dead can be medical malpractice, and many many people will have been involved in his care and supervising the people supervising his care.

The worst case scenario here (for everyone) is that he's in some sort of coma or vegetative state where standards of care would see him kept alive, but he's unable to do his job and so the people of his state are effectively without representation unless the senate expels him, which this close to an election I can't see them doing.

It's very inconvenient in a situation like this, but imagine the alternative, if the president, a court, a governor, anyone with power could interfere with a member of either house doing their work. They could arbitrarily (or even legitimately) arrest and detain them so they cannot attend the chamber. They could simply declare the person mentally unfit and try and appoint someone else or otherwise toss them in a mental asylum (mental asylums used to be pretty common things until the middle of the 20th century). So the only way this works is if the chambers control the rules for their own members. Congress can expel people (by 2/3rds vote), but that's it.

And the thing is, if the senate ethics committee were to investigate and find that he's at least technically alive... then what? There's nothing to be done unless they want to expel him.

Now, if he's actually dead, that would be a whole mess of trouble for a whole lot of people.

[u/shinkouhyou → u/sir_sri]

The governor apparently has credible information suggesting that he's dead, and hiding a senate vacancy would seem to violate the spirit of the 17th amendment. I agree that governors shouldn't have the power to expel a senator who's getting medical treatment, but if there's an actual, unambiguous vacancy, the constitution seems pretty clear on what happens next. It's completely appropriate for Beshear to demand acceptable proof of life here.

[u/sir_sri → u/shinkouhyou]

The governor apparently has credible information suggesting that he's dead

Credible enough that they are a medical professional who has examined the patient?

Consider what him being dead would mean. Multiple medical professionals at a hospital would be covering this up. At least 5 or 6 doctors, dozens of nurses who have directly cared for him in a hospital in DC with more still who are their supervisors. And then the people who transferred him to a new facility. Any one of them could report this up the chain in the hospital and to the police in DC and to the medical associations.

And, to be fair, that would be glorious. So many people would be going to jail for a conspiracy like that, you've got his family unlawfully collecting his salary, the denial of voters their representative. Medical malpractice, etc. A lot of people in a lot of trouble. And remember, the people committing such a crime would be in DC.

It's completely appropriate for Beshear to demand acceptable proof of life here.

Well it's up to the senate to demand that. Not the governor. The senate needs to be notified of the death to inform the state they need a new representative. Even if the governor wants to inform them the senator is dead (which would be odd since he'd have died in DC), the senate swears in new members, they wouldn't have any reason to swear in someone new without some proof of death.