EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress, had a brain hemorrhage and was in critical condition with limited brain function, a doctor said Wednesday.
Tubbs Jones, 58, suffered the hemorrhage while driving her car in Cleveland Heights on Tuesday, said Dr. Gus Kious, president of Huron Hospital in East Cleveland. The congresswoman had been driving erratically and her vehicle crossed lanes of traffic before coming to a stop, police said.
The hemorrhage was in an inaccessible part of the congresswoman's brain, Kious said during a news conference. A team of doctors who evaluated her determined she has limited brain function.
Family friend Joe Hewitt asked people to pray for the congresswoman.
Tubbs Jones, elected in 1998, was one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's biggest boosters during the primaries and is to be a superdelegate at next week's Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Tubbs Jones represents the heavily Democratic 11th District and chairs the ethics committee in the House. She's the first black woman to serve on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, where she opposed President Bush's tax cuts and his efforts to create personal accounts within Social Security.
Several news organizations, including The Associated Press, had earlier reported that Tubbs Jones had died. The AP cited a Democratic official.
The reports prompted Sen. John Kerry to issue a statement mourning her passing.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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