Chief Justice Roberts Leaves Hospital

Day After Suffering Seizure, Roberts Tells Bush He's Fine

(CBS/AP)  Waving and smiling, Chief Justice John Roberts walked briskly out of a hospital in Maine on Tuesday and resumed his vacation, returning to normalcy a day after he suffered his second seizure in 14 years.

The Supreme Court was mum on whether Roberts would need anti-seizure medication. But specialists say his doctor would have raised that possibility because someone who has had two seizures is at high risk of having another.

Roberts, 52, cheerfully waved to onlookers outside the Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport, Maine, before heading by pontoon boat to his summer home on Hupper Island, off Maine's middle coast. Hours earlier, he had assured President Bush by phone that he felt fine.

Roberts joins millions of adults who have had seizures for no apparent reason. The court said doctors had found no tumor, stroke or any other explanation.

Seizures are essentially little electrical storms in the brain. The resulting symptoms can range from a muscle twitch to loss of consciousness. They generally last 30 seconds to two minutes, and most people report feeling back to normal just minutes after that.

While they're most commonly associated with children, one in 10 adults will have one at some point, according to the Epilepsy Foundation. Roberts' first was in 1993.

Officials would give no details on the chief justice's diagnosis or treatment.

But the definition of epilepsy is having two or more seizures without any other cause. About 3 million Americans meet that definition.

And brain specialists said Tuesday that regardless of whether that term is officially used with Roberts, his highly publicized episode offers a teachable moment about a stigmatized disorder.

"There's nothing about epilepsy that should interfere with him continuing to function at the very highest level," stressed Dr. Orrin Devinsky, chief of New York University's epilepsy center.

Former Supreme Court clerk Ed Lazarus still expects Roberts to serve for many years — comparing him to Justices William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O’Connor, both of whom battled cancer and stayed on the job, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod. Cancer survivor Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg continues to serve, Justice William Brennan served more than a decade after his stroke, and Justice William O. Douglas fought mental illness.

"He's at the extreme low end of the scale of ailments that the Supreme Court justices have persevered with," says Lazarus. "You're talking about people who have had to go through chemotherapy, people who've had to go through surgeries — all kinds of things much more serious than this."

Devinsky has patients for whom seizures are a much bigger concern than a high-court judge — namely, surgeons — who successfully control them with medication.

"There's unfortunately a terrible, terrible stigma in America that maybe this will go a small way to erase," he added. "Epilepsy needs to be thought of as just another disorder."

Indeed, Roberts' prior seizure in 1993 didn't raise concerns at the White House when Bush nominated him to the nation's highest court — or at the Senate Judiciary Committee, which reviewed his health records as part of Roberts' confirmation hearing in 2005.

"Look, it's something that you will take seriously, but obviously upon examining it, they also believed that he would be competent to continue — and still do believe so," White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters Tuesday.

Roberts was hospitalized after he fell on a dock near his home on Monday. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said doctors found no cause for concern.

"Idiopathic means they really don't know what caused it," Dr. Emily Senay told CBS' The Early Show, and added that the seizures could have a genetic component to them.

The big question, left unanswered, is whether Roberts will take a daily pill to prevent another seizure.

Once someone has had two seizures, chances of a third can reach as high as 80 percent, said Dr. Gholam Motamedi, epilepsy director at Georgetown University Hospital. Whether someone is on the high or low end of that risk scale depends in part on results of tests, including a measure of brain activity called an EEG.

There are numerous medications to choose from, and while all can cause side effects, they're generally mild in the low dose that would be expected for someone with just two seizures 14 years apart, Motamedi said.

"If you ask 10 neurologists, at least eight would agree he's better off on medication."

But Devinsky offered an example of how to weigh that decision: Say someone with Roberts' two-seizure history always took a bus or walked and hated pills. They might be OK skipping medication. But say that person was required to drive 500 miles a week for a sales job. Devinsky would strongly advise medication as a safety precaution, and because state laws vary widely on the driving restrictions imposed after a seizure.

Roberts has a driver to shuttle him to the Supreme Court. His home state of Maryland decides driving restrictions based on individual circumstances, while Washington, D.C., generally imposes a 12-month seizure-free period.

Are there seizure triggers? Stress "doesn't create seizures in people," Motamedi said. "If you have a stressful life, it doesn't mean you're more likely to become epileptic."

But sleep deprivation is a well-known trigger of seizures in certain people, and stress can lead to poor sleep, Motamedi added. Patients with what he calls "low seizure thresholds" — they have them often — also tell doctors they're more susceptible when stressed.

[mudrose-2009]

Mudrose calls toldyouso21 vulgar, totally oblivious to the implications of what it wrote. Sort of like us invading a country and thinking when we kill the people, ...that the people there should welcome them and be grateful.

Perversion at its finest. LOL
Posted by toldyouso21

Hearsay, supposition and voodoo mentality. More Lefty propaganda. Then you sit there and brood that I'm oblivious to rants when there isn't one shred of evidence to support your theories. Seems to me we aren't using car bombs and blowing up Iraqis. First fallacy, not to mention the rest, it would take a lifetime and who wants to waste words with you. Then you attach an extraction of a post that was not addressed to you and assault me with vulgar, personal perversions. You are vulgar, you do know that, don't you Brown lips? Seems that my Moniker conjures up all sorts of erotic fantasies for you since you always seem to allude to my derrier. However, whether it's those big brown lips or that little mud-caked *** betwen your legs that longs for me,I'm sorry to inform you that you will NEVER, EVER, HAVE ME. So my suggestion to you is to stop driveling all over yourself with your so-called voodoo theories and your vulgar insinuations and take a cold shower. Yes, Mudrose (the origins of which your gutter and base mind will never figure out)says you are VULGAR.

[theusa1st]

So does Ted Kennedy, Geraldine Ferraro's son and many others on the Democratic side...but I'd have to say Ted kennedy beats anybody hands down.
Posted by theUSA1st at 05:28 PM : Jul 31, 2007
+ report abuse Ted Kennedy should have served time in prison!!!!And you respect him..LOL
Posted by b48151 at 06:15 PM : Jul 31, 2007

I DO NOT respect Ted Kennedy...he is a BIG POS.
What I was saying that he also leaves a lot to be desired (sarcastic). He is lower than whale t-u-r-d in the bottom of the ocean.

[zertrat]

Holy moly. Browsing through the posts, I've never seen such a listing of inappropriate diagnoses and medical advice. Please, people, stick to politics, in which you are merely idiots. In medicine, you might as well be a shaman from New Guinea. Actually, New Guinea shamans are pretty smart and effective, so I apologize to all of them. You non-Papuan folks are nuts!

The issue is not his medical condition, which is fine. Seizures are commonplace. The issue is his views on the constitution, religion, and separation of church and state. On those issues, this guy should be placed in intensive care. Or pitched into Papua New Guinea, for a special education.

[nyckate]

Doctors now say that he may have epilepsy which isn't that big a deal really - but the medication has some terrible sideaffects - such as mental slowing and foregetfulness.

I like the man - he seems to be a good decent guy - but if he has to take medication such as this should he be Chief Justice? He'll have to answer that.

If he decides to step down - man - is Bush going to have an awful time getting someone else through Congress!!!

[toldyouso21]

Well,I try to steer clear of pronouncements like this, but I give everyone exhibit A to the fact that mudrose is not only oblivious to the things it writes, but that it also stands as a shining example why we are still in Iraq, why up is down, bad is good and why they all wear halos.

Let's examine this brief interchange:

toldyouso responded to mudrose comments about a poster walking on all fours with: pointing the finger back at mudrose and also asking if he behaved like a dog with worms and did the butt scoot--

Then mudrose responded with--"You're such a pro at it I'd leave it to you to show us how. Speaking of the doggy/hyena worm butt-scott isn't this your specialty? You are always sticking your big fat lips up someone's a/ss. Smacking your lips and pucking up with your brown teeth. You talk of these things with such ease, one would think it comes natural to you. Man who ever stayed with you had to die of some sort of brain injury. You are vulgar." LOL
Posted by mudrose at 04:49 PM : Jul 31, 2007

Mudrose calls toldyouso21 vulgar, totally oblivious to the implications of what it wrote. Sort of like us invading a country and thinking when we kill the people, they should be grateful. And like outing agents and feeling the treasonous ones are those who seek justice. Or that when foreigners invade a country, bomb, rape, torture, kill and stay...that the people there should welcome them and be grateful.

Perversion at its finest. LOL

[jonesforch]

But sleep deprivation is a well-known trigger of seizures in certain people, and stress can lead to poor sleep, Motamedi added. Patients with what he calls "low seizure thresholds" %u2014 they have them often %u2014 also tell doctors they're more susceptible when stressed.


Duh!!!

[toldyouso21]

You're such a pro at it I'd leave it to you to show us how. Speaking of the doggy/hyena worm butt-scott isn't this your specialty? You are always sticking your big fat lips up someone's a/ss. Smacking your lips and pucking up with your brown teeth. You talk of these things with such ease, one would think it comes natural to you. Man who ever stayed with you had to die of some sort of brain injury. You are vulgar. LOL
Posted by mudrose at 04:49 PM : Jul 31, 2007


ALL OF THIS...BROUGHT TO YOU BY A THING CALLED MUDROSE. Mudrose, another name for the anusssssss. lmao and no you can't have any.

[jonesforch]

Mine was stress the mind shuts down very easy to control with medications..But Mr Roberts is there to stay until HE fills he can no longer stay. Me I have not had a siezure in 15 years.

[irisheyes222]

SLEEP APNEA! No kidding
I had a siezure out of the blue
Was tested for Sleep Apnea, treated and haven't had another since. Sleep with a C-Pap every night.
Worth looking into.

[jonesforch]

JackSteen1

never mind not stooping that low.

[global_chick]

Glad he's doing well.

[jacksteen1]

This is what you get when you breed too close in hillbilly Yellowhammer families (see the Romney Family Tree - "No Branches! Straight to Heaven from Salt Lake City!")

It was also not revealed during his confirmation hearings that he has twelve fingers, eleven toes, and a bifurcated tongue, as does his Mother...who is also his Father's sister.

Jerry Falwell's family is still hiding six offspring that were born hydrocephalic (water-heads) that live on mattress boxes in the filthy basement of the Thomasville Road Baptist Church.

Upstanding Republiscum.

[terrapin78]

- Simply put, one can call it an idiotic decision.
Posted by grazinggoat at 05:20 PM : Jul 31, 2007

Or STOLEN!

[theusa1st]

If this "Roberts" fellow doesn't even protect that basic aspect of the constitution what can we expect from him but infamy. what can we hope for but more serious seizures, as sad as that is, it is better than tyranny.
Posted by SharnCedar at 05:09 PM : Jul 31, 2007

A little over the top...trying to make a conspiracy theory out of it...how about is't just one human asking another human how they are doing.
Just how do you sleep at night?

[randalds]

I think you need to make out with toldyouso21. She loves to kiss a/ss and you are in need of much love.

Posted by mudrose at 04:53 PM : Jul 31, 2007

Hey take your se*xual fantasies elsewhere! This is not "that" kind of room here! Go get your "relief" where you usually do, in cyber-s*ex chatrooms and leave it out of here. This is a respectable political thread where only political insults and discussion is allowed, not your sick fantasies.

[theusa1st]

And for all of you 'others' out there who may bring up Gore's son and his recent situation - careful - the Bush Brothers and their daughters leave a lot to be desired.

Thank You
BC Kelly
Tallahassee Fla

Posted by BC_Kelly at 05:21 PM : Jul 31, 2007

So does Ted Kennedy, Geraldine Ferraro's son and many others on the Democratic side...but I'd have to say Ted kennedy beats anybody hands down.

[grazinggoat]

Sounds like a new way to describe the Bush Presidency. "The idiopathic administration". More and more people are turning against him so fast that soon it'll be hard to find anyone who'll admit to having been foolish enough to have voted for him. No one will know what really caused the Bush election! LOL!
Posted by RandalDS

- Simply put, one can call it an idiotic decision.

[sharncedar]

"Roberts told Mr. Bush in a phone call that he was doing fine. "

So what happened to separation of powers. Does the supreme court work for Mr. Bush. Does the chief justice report in the the president, no, in fact he should be adversarial and separate from the president. For example he didn't call Nancy Pelosi, it would be equally absurd an unconstitutional as calling the president that he is supposed to be watching. Looks like Roberts is another bush fellow that wipes his arse with our law.

If anyone would know about the separation of powers, about the strong legal wall separating the president from contact with or attmepts to influence the Supreme Court it would be a Supreme Court justice. If this "Roberts" fellow doesn't even protect that basic aspect of the constitution what can we expect from him but infamy. what can we hope for but more serious seizures, as sad as that is, it is better than tyranny.

[mudrose-2009]

But then what's new about a Nazi attacking the messenger? Sieg Heil Bush!!
Posted by MCVet

I think you need to make out with toldyouso21. She loves to kiss a/ss and you are in need of much love.

[mudrose-2009]

Meaning that you do and are looking for others who also walk on all fours to join you? LOL. TMI mudrose. TMI. Or do you do the doggy/hyena worm butt-scoot across the floor and save the all fours for special occasions? lmao
Posted by toldyouso21

You're such a pro at it I'd leave it to you to show us how. Speaking of the doggy/hyena worm butt-scott isn't this your specialty? You are always sticking your big fat lips up someone's a/ss. Smacking your lips and pucking up with your brown teeth. You talk of these things with such ease, one would think it comes natural to you. Man who ever stayed with you had to die of some sort of brain injury. You are vulgar. LOL