This report is disturbing, but not necessarily a sign that the Chief Justice will need to leave the bench any time in the next three decades.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., a seasonal resident of Hupper Island, located off Port Clyde, will be staying overnight at Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport following a seizure.

St. George Ambulance responded to a call at about 2 p.m. Monday of a man who had fallen 5 to 10 feet and landed on a dock, hitting the back of his head. The patient was ashen and was foaming at the mouth. National news report quotes a Supreme Court spokeswoman as saying that Roberts was conscious the entire time of the incident. That spokeswoman has not returned a telephone call to the newspaper.

PBMC issued a statement at about 7 p.m., saying that Roberts was being kept overnight as a precaution and was recovered. He suffered some minor scrapes from the fall, the hospital stated. A comprehensive neurological examination was administered to the chief justice and the seizure was determined to be a benign one, the hospital stated. The chief justice suffered a similar seizure in 1993.

According to a Supreme Court spokesperson, Roberts is fine.

Arberg said Roberts suffered "a benign, idiopathic seizure," medical terminology for an attack whose origin is unknown. She said Roberts suffered a similar episode in 1993.

Seizures are any "sudden, abnormal electrical activity" in the brain, according to background information posted online by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health.

While some seizures are focused in one part of the brain, government researchers note, others can be generalized. Not all seizures involve convulsions.

"Most seizures last from 30 seconds to two minutes and do not cause lasting harm," the Institute said. "However, it is a medical emergency if seizures last longer than 5 minutes or if a person has many seizures and does not wake up between them."

While seizures can be the result of a brain disorder such as epilepsy, the Institute notes they can also be a consequence of fevers, head injuries or even medication side effects.

Let's consider the term used -- benign idiopathic seizure. It indicates that it is an incident that caused no significant harm to the Chief Justice and does not seem to be related to any underlying medical condition. It may yet turn out to be caused by any number of relatively trivial circumstances, including low electrolytes or a reaction to a flashing light source. Based upon the initial diagnosis, there is no reason to believe that the Chief Justice should not be able to return to his duties at full strength by the end of the summer recess -- or that he won't be able to resume his normal schedule by the weekend, for that matter.

The Leftard-sphere has reacted with its usual level of (no) class and (no) decency, and I've already seen posts and comments hoping that he is incapacitated, dies, and "damned to Hell". I won't drive any traffic their way.

Decent Americans (or all political stripes) send their prayers and/or best wishes for the Chief Justice and his family.

H/T Malkin, Ace, Bill's Bites,

Posted by: Greg at 12:07 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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