Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been discharged from New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center after treatment for a blood clot, the AP reported.
Her doctors advised her that she has been making progress on all fronts and are confident she will make a full recovery, said Philippe Reines, a Clinton spokesperson.
He said that Clinton is appreciative of the excellent care she received at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and is eager to get back to work. A date for her return to the State Department has not been set.
"She's eager to get back to the office," Reines said in a statement, adding that the secretary and her family are grateful for the excellent care she received at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Clinton had been in the hospital since Sunday, where she was being treated with blood thinners to dissolve the clot. Doctors discovered the clot during a follow-up exam stemming from a concussion she suffered earlier in December.
Earlier Wednesday, Clinton left one section of the New York hospital but returned about an hour later. It is unclear why she left, and then returned. Clinton was photographed smiling in the back of a van on the way out of the hospital building.
Former president Bill Clinton and her daughter Chelsea were seen going back into the hospital with her at her return. There are unconfirmed reports that she had gone to another facility for testing.
Clinton had been speaking with staff and reviewing paperwork, the State Department said Wednesday. She remained engaged with staff in Washington who are handling U.S. foreign policy in her absence.
Clinton was admitted Sunday to New York-Presbyterian Hospital for treatment of a clot stemming from a concussion she suffered earlier in December. While at home battling a stomach virus, Clinton had fainted, fallen and struck her head, a spokesman said. Clinton, 65, hadn't been seen publicly since Dec. 7.
Doctors found the clot, located in a vein that runs through the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear, during a follow-up exam and began administering blood thinners. Her physicians said Monday that there was no neurological damage and that they expect she will make a full recovery.
Sidelined by her illness for most of December, Clinton was forced to cancel scheduled testimony before Congress about a scathing report into the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, and was absent on Dec. 21 when President Barack Obama nominated Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to succeed Clinton when she steps down at the start of Obama's second term, as had long been planned.
But Clinton had expected to return to work this week and had already started to resume regular phone contact with her foreign counterparts. On Saturday, the day before the clot was discovered, Clinton had a half-hour conversation with Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. envoy to Syria, in which the two discussed the state of affairs in that civil-war-torn country, Nuland said.
Also on Saturday, Clinton spoke by telephone with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, discussing recent developments in Syria, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories.
Clinton's doctors said they planned to release Clinton from the hospital after the proper dose for the blood thinners had been established, and doctors not involved with her care say it's likely she will have no long-term consequences from the clot. But it remains to be seen whether she will be able to return to work before she resigns as secretary of state.
The illness has also raised questions about Clinton's political future and how her health might influence her decision about whether to run for president in 2016, as prominent Democrats have been urging her to consider. Clinton also suffered from a blood clot in 1998, midway through her husband's second term as president, although that clot was located in her knee.
MyFoxNY.com/The Associated Press
Hillary Clinton briefly left the hospital on Wednesday. She was seen inside this van.
