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Marion Barry Is Back in the Hospital

DC’s mayor-for-life was admitted on Monday night for a urinary tract infection.
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Marion Barry Is Back in the Hospital
Barry in 2012. Photograph by Jeff Elkins.

Marion Barry is back in the hospital, just two weeks after he was released from a 16-day stay to fight off a blood infection, says his spokeswoman LaToya Foster. Barry, 77, was admitted to a DC hospital on Monday night for a urinary tract infection, his staff says.

Barry’s condition was disclosed over his Twitter account, which is managed by his DC Council staff. “I was not rushed to the hospital,” he tweeted late Tuesday evening. “I am not seriously ill. I will be back.” His staff has not said which hospital he is at.

The former four-term mayor has had a string of health problems even before his recent hospitalizations. He was checked in last April for treatment for a blood sugar dropoff and suffered a blood clot in 2012. Barry, whose 78th birthday is next month, also suffers from diabetes and underwent a kidney transplant in 2009.

Mayor Vince Gray was scheduled to attend a mayoral campaign debate Tuesday night in Tenleytown, but pulled out shortly before the event to, his staff said, “visit a friend who is very ill.” WUSA later reported that the friend in question was the mayor-for-life.

Barry wrote to his Twitter followers again Wednesday morning, saying he is recovering.

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Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.