U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospitalized With Cancer

Posted on February 5, 2009

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, our only female on the bench, had surgery Thursday for pancreatic cancer. Read more on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s illness below.

Justice Ginsburg’s cancer was diagnosed in Maryland, but Ginsburg chose to have her surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

The Supreme Court released a statement quoting Ginsburg’s surgeon, Dr. Murray Brennan, saying the justice would be confined to the hospital for at least seven to 10 days.

“Justice Ginsburg had no symptoms prior to the incidental discovery of the lesion during a routine annual check-up in late January,” Kathy Arberg said in the statement. “A computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan revealed a small tumor, approximately 1 centimeter across, in the center of the pancreas.”

Ginsburg, 75, has had another type of cancer before, she had colorectal cancer back in 1999.

“Cancer is a dreadful disease,” she told the society. “The surgery and what I call the post-operative insurance course – chemotherapy and radiation – are not easy to bear physically and can generate large anxiety.”

During Ginsburg’s cancer treatment, she never missed a day of work.

“The key issue is that pancreatic cancer is very difficult to detect in its early stages and that’s partly because the symptoms associated with it are not specific,” added Bradley, a former Suffolk County Health Commissioner.

Dr. Kevin Watkins, chief of upper gastrointestinal cancer surgery, at Stony Brook University Medical Center said pancreatic cancer “can run in families but the majority of it is sporadic,” meaning it occurs without a known hereditary link.

Let’s all hope Justice Ginsburg will do well with her surgery and cancer treatment.

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