Statin question: If the Senators have access to the best health care, why wasn't Lindsey getting care

[Baitball Blogger]

for his heart condition? Hardening of the arteries doesn't just happen over night.

I'm asking because I keep seeing ads that claim that statins do not clear out arteries, which begs the question, why use them at all, then?

So, I'm a bit confused why a Senator would allow a heart condition to go untreated, and if it was treated, what was he taking that evidently, didn't work?

[Ocelot II]

1. Because sometimes shit just happens even with excellent medical care.

Sometimes even apparently healthy people drop dead.

[artemisia1]

28. This. Most Americans his age have some hardening of the arteries due to time, but there is not always a way to

either predict or prevent a sudden cardiovascular event.

[Solly Mack]

2. Some people choose not to follow the advice of their doctors, and they also refuse to take medicines.

For all I know - and I didn't know Graham personally - he could have been one of those people.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. Since he's a public figure, maybe we'll find out.

My hubby is on statins and I'm trying to determine the risks. We recently had a friend who was on them and he had a heart attack anyway, but there was also a set of circumstances that could explain why it happened.

[Solly Mack]

12. He could have had an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm. Aortic dissection can happen to anyone.

Even those who appear healthy. Underlying health conditions make it more likely in some people, but it really can happen to anyone.

We don't know and won't know until the full report comes out.

[Maru Kitteh]

25. Pills are not on/off switches, and they don't cancel out other choices

a patient may make.

Lindsey has looked like a heavy drinker for years. Statins are there to compliment the lifestyle and dietary efforts of the patient.

It’s not a matter of them “not working.” No drug can promise you will never develop a disease or condition, and death still comes to all of us.

[yardwork]

3. Why do you think he wasn't getting care?

[Baitball Blogger]

6. Just seems there would have been warnings if he had been seeing a doctor regularly.

[LisaL]

9. That is not accurate. It happens suddenly without warning signs.

"The most common feature of aortic dissection is its abrupt start. It can happen at any time, most commonly from a sudden rise in blood pressure with heavy exertion. But it can occur while doing anything, at rest or when you’re sleeping. There are no aortic dissection warning signs."

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16743-aortic-dissection

[yardwork]

19. I have to wonder if the call with Trump upset him.

[Jersey Devil]

4. Burst aorta can happen to anyone

Coroner says preliminary findings are that Graham had a burst aorta, sounding to me more like an aneurism than a heart attack. But we have no idea whether he was screened for either.

[TexasBushwhacker]

24. John Ritter died at age 54 of AD

Alan Thicke died at 69. The thing is, with symptoms like chest pain, sweating and vomiting, the first thing doctors will assume is that they are having a heart attack. IF they find the art c dissection is happening, they MIGHT be able to save them in surgery, but usually they don't.

John Ritter's widow, Amy Yasbeck, sued his doctors and the hospital for wrongful death. The hospital settled for $14 Million. The case against the doctors went to trill and the jury sided with the doctors 9 to 3. Even if the AD is diagnosed and the patient goes straight to surgery, they often die anyway.

Playwright Jonathan Larson died of an aortic dissection the day of the first preview of his musical "Rent". He was only 35.

[LisaL]

7. Because doctors are not magicians.

He died from aortic dissection.
There is a high death rate when it happens.

[Sympthsical]

8. An aortic dissection is what killed John Ritter

They're nasty things. Even if someone's receiving treatment such as statins to lower LDL and help with the risk, it doesn't magically reverse arterial damage. Usually you need a full lifestyle shift of exercise and solid diet to help minimize the damage - and it is only a bit. You can't exercise yourself back to 25 year old arteries.

Looking at Lindsey Graham, I don't think he was out jogging while monching on kale.

Medical science can only do so much.

[sarisataka]

10. As I understand it

an aortic rupture is virtually undetectable until it happens.

Do we know he was not on medication for his heart and arteries?

[unblock]

11. As for statins, here's my understanding (I just started taking them)

They aren't magic, but they're hardly useless. They lower the "bad" cholesterol, making the formation of new arterial plaques less likely. You are correct that they don't clear out existing plaques, but they're do gradually change their structure in a way that makes them harder to break apart - i.e., less likely to cause an embolism that least to a stroke.

They do have potential side effects, and while the general consensus is that it's a no-brainer to take them if you have high cholesterol and/or atherosclerosis, they may not be appropriate for everyone.

And as others have noted, cholesterol/atherosclerosis/statins may not even be relevant to this case in particular.

Finally, if you live long enough, you *will* get hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis). The incidence by age 65 is 100%. Maybe there's some rounding error of seniors without it.

I've had zero symptoms, it showed up on a CT scan while investigating a kidney stone episode. Age 62. Docs said it's completely normal but my cholesterol was a bit over last test, hence the statins.

[cachukis]

13. An aortic dissection is extremely common. Some

46 to 48k deaths a year. Surgery is rare, only about 250 per year.
Rural victims don't stand much of a chance. Even in the cities, you need a heads up thoracic surgeon.
My wife lucked out. Ten minutes to emergency room and her surgeon actually teaches courses on the procedures.
Actually removed her heart to repair valve and replace 4 inches of her ascending dissected aorta that started to bleed.
They all know her at the hospital and bend over backwards to extend her care.
Timing is almost everything. Graham's time ran out.

[dalton99a]

14. Alcohol was his medicine

https://newrepublic.com/post/205289/republican-senator-lindsey-graham-alcohol-vomit-fish-tank

Malcolm Ferguson / January 14, 2026 / 11:26 a.m. ET
Republican Senator Writes About Lindsey Graham’s Vomit in Fish Tank
Senator John Kennedy says Lindsey Graham loves alcohol like nothing else.

Senator John Kennedy shared some revealing information about his fellow GOPer Lindsey Graham in his new book, confirming Graham’s hawkish sensibilities and his penchant for alcoholic beverages.

“If you want to stump Lindsey, just ask him to name a country he wouldn’t bomb,” Kennedy wrote in his book, How to Test Negative for Stupid: And Why Washington Never Will.

Then Kennedy moved on to the drink.

“Invite him to dinner, and you don’t know if he’ll sit down for an intelligent conversation or get drunk and vomit in the fish tank. But that’s why I like him.”

This isn’t the first time Graham’s drinking has come up. In 2015, New York magazine wrote that Graham “likes a drink so much he thinks drinking more might just solve the problems in Washington.” And just last month, he appeared visibly drunk while answering questions at a news conference in Charleston, South Carolina.

[Baitball Blogger]

15. Wow!

[multigraincracker]

17. Throw in cornbread/biscuits/gravy.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

16. Just because a person has good healthcare doesn't mean they follow the recommendations they get, or can defeat genetics

— or chance, for that matter.

[LeftInTX]

18. My husband has had two stent placements

2024 and 2026. He's been on statins for decades. Statins accumulate in your liver and then in your joints causing painful arthritis and then a decrease in exercise. My husband can't even grasp handlebars on a bike!

Pills just don't fix your arteries. Hubby had a heart attack and needed stents despite taking statins.

Meds aren't miracles.

Also bad aortas can be genetic. In Graham's case, it was his aorta that ruptured. Usually clogged arteries lead to a heart attack. In this case, his aorta ruptured. His aortic wall was likely weak and herniated. Just like the cerebral aneurysm that killed my paternal grandmother and mother.

Shit happens.

[Baitball Blogger]

20. Thank you for this information!

I don't see why there isn't a sense of urgency in this country to find an alternative to statins. My husband got on them because his cholesterol levels were high, probably due to genetics, and his doctor convinced him that it was the easy fix. He said something like, you will put less stress on your heart and you can eat anything you want.

But now we're finding out that it's a ticking time bomb.

[Stargazer99]

21. It is because sta tins are cheaper to produce (profits you know are more important than people)

I take them and it has ruined my life with forgetfulness that is every day problem as I am one of them that it has screw up my brain 24/7. I fear I will wake up one morning and forget who I am. I use a counter oven and microwave
so I don't start a fire in the house by getting side tracked and forget what I have on the stove and cause a fire
A DAMN GOOD REASON WHY BUSINESS SHOULD NEVER BE INVOLVED IN HEALTH CARE. You have no idea how pissed I am struggling through this nightmare

[Baitball Blogger]

22. I am so sorry that it did this to you.

I truly believe that a class action lawsuit is on its way. Doctors were compelling, pushing this thing.

[ShepKat]

30. I refuse to take them

no chance in hell will i voluntarily take statins. Not worth the side effects.
If 'altering lifestyle' won't help- nature will take it's course. I live with chronic pain from ehlers danlos.
Living with that PLUS dealing with sickness together is not something I would ever look forward to for the rest of my life.

[moonscape]

23. I have two friends who got severe

muscle damage from them.

I’m 75, know my cholesterol is high, and my solution is not to get lipid tests. There is,so much contradictory information, and I’m just not sold on them for a number of reasons.

[sheshe2]

26. 'I can't die now': Explosive report reveals Graham laughed off advice to seek medical care

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) jokingly shrugged off advice that he seek immediate medical attention in the moments before his death Saturday night, according to a new Axios report.

snip

“A person who spoke with Graham shortly afterward said the senator complained that he was feeling unwell," the report states. "When the person urged him to seek medical attention immediately, Graham said he would do so Sunday morning after his scheduled appearance on NBC's ‘Meet the Press.’”

Axios reported, citing an anonymous source, that Graham said he still had work to do, like "the Russia sanctions," getting "Iran sorted out," and "do Israeli-Saudi normalization."

snip

Graham also joked, "I can't die now."

https://www.rawstory.com/lindsey-graham-2677208310/

Lindsey Graham Shrugged Off Calls to See Doctor Before Death

“I can’t die now,” he reportedly joked after complaining that he didn’t feel well.

Lindsey Graham was urged to seek immediate medical attention but brushed off the advice with a chilling joke in the moments before his death, according to a report.



The South Carolina senator died Saturday night after what his office called a “brief and sudden illness,” two days after his 71st birthday and just hours after returning from a visit to Ukraine.

Emergency personnel responded to a report of cardiac arrest at Graham’s Capitol Hill home at around 8:30 p.m.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/lindsey-graham-shrugged-off-calls-to-see-doctor-before-death/

[QueerDuck]

29. But now you ARE, Lindsey... you ARE dead!

🎶 I've written a letter to Lindsey...🎶

[DFW]

27. "I can't die now". A century ago, a wiser man explained why he could, too.

Georges Clemenceau explained:

“The cemeteries are full of irreplaceable men—all of whom have been replaced.”

[no_hypocrisy]

31. You can have a dissected aorta and not realize it.

When you last saw your doctor, you didn't have the manifest symptoms of an DA.

My father was a cardiologist (heart doctor) and HE didn't realize that he was in the process of dying from a DA.

He was 92, rear-ended a van at a gas station. His car had no airbag. His chest hit the steering column. He refused to go to a hospital and get medical evaluation/treatment. He hid the accident from me and my siblings.

One week later, he had an unexplained, severe backache. Instead of seeing his cardiologist, he scheduled a massage for his back. The masseur didn't know about the accident and gave him therapy.

The backache persisted hours later and my father sent a neighbor to get him a heating pad.

A little while later, he was having a heart attack and managed to call 9-1-1, but it was too late to save him.

[Baitball Blogger]

32. A lesson in there for all of us.

I am so sorry. Some of the most enduring lessons our parents leave us occurs in the end.

[PCIntern]

33. AD is the equivalent of being hit by lightning

Ever see a burst water main in a city street? That’s it.