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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.