Kennedy Remains Hospitalized After Seizure

Kennedy suffered two fractured ribs and three broken vertebrae in his back, an injury that would cause him a lifetime of back pain.

(AP Photo)
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In October 2007, Kennedy had surgery to repair blockage in the left carotid artery in the neck believed to be connected to the injuries he suffered in the crash more than 40 years ago.

In July of 1969, a year after the assassination of his brother, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the senator once again escaped a fatal crash.

After a night of partying, Kennedy drove his mother's 1967 Oldsmobile over a wooden bridge on Chappaquiddick, an island off of Martha's Vineyard, killing passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.

Questions surrounding why Kennedy survived while Kopechne drowned have haunted the senator ever since.

He was convicted of leaving the scene of an accident and lost his license for a year, but the Kopechne family never sued the Kennedys or the senator for his role in the incident.

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In more recent years, Kennedy was traveling with the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., on the day Wellstone's campaign plane crashed just outside of Eveleth, Minn.

Kennedy had been on several flights with Wellstone on the twin-engine turboprop but did not accompany him on the fatal flight as Wellstone was traveling to a funeral and not a campaign event.

Wellstone, his wife, daughter, three staffers and the two pilots were all killed in the crash.

The Cape Cod Times first reported this weekend's medical emergency and has posted a photo of Kennedy being taken to a MediFlight on a stretcher.

A Democratic Senate source told ABC News, "The situation is serious. We just don't know how serious."

The Kennedy family was set to host the annual Best Buddies Challenge event Saturday evening at the Kennedy family compound.

Even though he is the third-longest serving senator in the history of the body -- with 45 years and two months in office, behind only current Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina -- Kennedy is one of the hardest-working members of Congress.