CHICAGO — Former Mayor Richard M. Daley was hospitalized Friday after falling ill.
Daley, 71, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital after feeling ill upon returning from business in Arizona, according to a statement released by his spokespeople.
He is being held in the intensive care unit "for monitoring and evaluation."
The former mayor began feeling ill Friday morning while in Phoenix, said spokesman Rick Jasculca.
"He felt ill throughout the day, prompting his family to order an ambulance upon his return as a precaution," Jasculca said. "On the flight back home, he became disoriented. Yet he was able to walk off the plane and to the ambulance."
Jacquelyn Heard, another spokeswoman, disputed reports that Daley experienced stroke-like symptoms.
"No one...[has] said anything about strokelike symptoms," she said in an email, adding neither doctors nor family members have said Daley experienced such symptoms.
His family was with him and visiting between tests, the statement said.
A crowd of reporters gathered outside the hospital, and the hospital said updates would be provided "as appropriate."
Daley's illness struck on the same day his nephew, Richard Vanecko, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the 2003 death of David Koschman, but Heard said she did not believe that contributed to Daley's condition.
