Mayor Richard M. Daley was to spend the night at Northwestern Memorial Hospital after he reported feeling faint during dinner Thursday at a North Side restaurant.
An initial battery of tests found no problems, mayoral spokeswoman Jacquelyn Heard said. “They have ruled out a heart attack,” she said.
More Top Picks Macbook Air Vs Dell Xps
A number of other tests will be conducted, including a check for blood clots in the leg, hospital spokeswoman Kelly Sullivan said.
The mayor was hospitalized briefly two years ago for a condition called mild labile hypertension, a fluctuation of blood pressure.
Heard said the mayor did not lose consciousness at the Rosebud Steakhouse at 192 E. Walton St. but Sullivan said “Doctors said he came close to passing out but never actually lost consciousness. The family said he began to lose his balance and fall to the floor but he never stopped talking to them.”
He arrived at the emergency room around 9:30 p.m.
The mayor was dining with his wife Maggie and other family members at about 8 p.m. when he experienced a period of feeling faint, Heard said.
Someone in the restaurant called for an ambulance, but the feeling passed and the ambulance was not used. His wife thought he should go to the hospital and he was driven by his security detail, Heard said.
The faint feeling lasted “a couple of minutes,” Heard said, and the mayor walked into the emergency room on his own.
Heard disputed the hospital’s information that the mayor lost consciousness, Heard said a report that the mayor had choked on food was untrue.
Sullivan said doctors administered a brain scan and a chest scan, which were normal.