The ailing ‘liberal giant’ and patriarch of America’s most storied political family, Senator Edward Kennedy, was examined and released from a Massachusetts hospital on Friday. A statement from his office said that Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, who is undergoing treatment for a malignant brain tumor, was taken to a hospital near his home in Hyannis Port, after suffering a “mild seizure.”

Doctors believe the seizure was triggered by a change in medication. In a phone interview, Sgt. Ben Baxter of the Barnstable police department said that police received a call at 5:12 p.m. that Kennedy was not feeling well. An ambulance and police escort took him to the hospital, where he “was treated and released.”

Kennedy returned home later in the evening, and his office said that he was looking forward to watching the first presidential debate between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.

The veteran Senator, younger brother of slain U.S. President John F. Kennedy, has been one of the most respected as well as polarizing figures in U.S. politics. He has long been a hero among fellow liberals, though scorned by many conservatives. On Sept. 8, Kennedy’s office had said he would not be returning to Washington this fall, but would work from home.

Kennedy, who was diagnosed of brain cancer in May, underwent a successful surgery in June, to remove the malignant tumor. A champion of expanding public health care since long, he returned to Capitol Hill on July 9 to cast a tiebreaking Senate vote on a Medicare health bill.

In August, Kennedy made a dramatic appearance at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in support of Obama.