Clinton breaks elbow; surgery due

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expects to have surgery soon to repair a broken elbow she suffered in a fall in the State Department garage.

Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said a surgery date most likely would be scheduled "in the coming week."

He said Clinton was working from home yesterday and had not decided whether to go ahead with planned overseas travel, including a trip to Italy and Greece next week.

Clinton canceled her public appointments, including an appearance yesterday morning with actress Angelina Jolie at a Washington event marking World Refugee Day.

Crowley said Clinton was walking toward her official vehicle in the State Department's basement garage when she fell about 5 p.m. Wednesday. At the time, she and Richard Holbrooke, the administration's coordinator of policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, were headed to a meeting at the White House.

Clinton was examined in her office and then taken to the George Washington University Hospital a few blocks away, where her right elbow was X-rayed, Crowley said. He said that he did not believe the fracture was severe but that he did not know the exact extent of her injury. She returned home about 10 p.m.

Crowley said Clinton "is deeply appreciative of the professional and kind medical team at the hospital, and thanks the many well-wishers that have already been calling her from around the country and the world, including President Obama, who was one of the first to call her late last night."