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Seizure hospitalizes Roberts

A neurological evaluation "revealed no cause for concern," a court statement said.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published July 31, 2007

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice John Roberts was hospitalized on Monday after suffering a seizure at his summer home in Maine, the Supreme Court announced.

The episode, described as a "benign idiopathic seizure," was similar to one he suffered 14 years ago, according to the court's press release. Idiopathic means that the cause of the seizure remains unknown.

He had no lasting effects from the earlier incident and was "fully recovered" from the seizure he suffered about 2 p.m. Monday, the court said, adding that the chief justice had undergone "a thorough neurological evaluation, which revealed no cause for concern."

He was due to remain overnight "as a precaution" at Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport. The seizure caused a fall, in which he "experienced minor scrapes," the court said.

Christopher Burke, a spokesman for Penobscot Bay Medical Center, told the Associated Press, "It's my understanding he's fully recovered."

In an interview Monday evening, Dr. David J. Langer, the director of cerebrovascular neurosurgery at St. Luke's-Roosevelt, Beth Israel and Long Island College Hospital, said that medical care after such a seizure should include "a good MRI, CAT scan and EEG." All these tests are available at the Penobscot Bay Medical Center, according to the hospital Web site.

"But the chances they'll find anything and be able to do anything about it are pretty low," said Langer, who is also an assistant professor at Albert Einstein Medical College.

He said that "in the majority of seizures you see no anatomical cause" for the seizure. Such a cause could be as a tumor, bleeding in the brain, a clogged blood vessel or an injury.

Langer said it could be difficult for doctors to decide whether the 52-year-old chief justice, who by all appearances is otherwise healthy, should start taking medication, which Langer said "have significant side effects."

The chief justice's home, which he bought last year, is on Hupper Island, off Port Clyde. The 400-acre island has only about two dozen houses, offering privacy to his family, which includes two young children. He was taken by boat to the mainland and from there by ambulance to the hospital.

Roberts is the youngest member of the Supreme Court. He is not known to have any chronic medical problems.

Fast Facts:

What is a seizure?

A seizure is like a little storm in the brain's electrical system, and the resulting symptoms can range from a few minutes' blank stare to a full-scale collapse and loss of consciousness. It's not all that rare for a usually healthy person to have a seizure, although they're far more common during childhood than adulthood.

When one occurs, doctors do a battery of tests to make sure there's no sinister explanation. A test that measures brain waves, called an EEG, can confirm a seizure by detecting a telltale spike. A brain scan called an MRI can detect a tumor, stroke or congenital abnormality.

When there's no apparent underlying cause, doctors label it a benign seizure. Two-thirds of people who have one seizure never have another.

The definition of an epileptic is someone who has had more than one seizure.

Associated Press

[Last modified July 30, 2007, 23:48:31]