Medical Privacy Elusive for Justices
Most Supreme Court justices guard their privacy, refusing to release more than the barest facts about their medical conditions.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is no exception, Linda Greenhouse writes in her Supreme Court Memo for the New York Times. He released few details about the seizure he suffered while on a Maine vacation, she says.
The man Roberts replaced, William H. Rehnquist, was similarly reticent. Before he died of thyroid cancer, Rehnquist never acknowledged that he had a severe form of the disease that usually leads to death within a year.
When the ailing justice was asked about retirement plans, Rehnquist said, “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”
Justice Thurgood Marshall refused a reporter’s request for his medical records and Justice Harry Blackmun tried to hide his treatment for a recurrence of prostate cancer.
But Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were more forthcoming about their cancer treatments, the story says.
Neurologists differ on whether Roberts should take seizure medication, the New York Times reports in a separate story. Roberts has had only two seizures, 14 years apart.
Side effects of the medication can possibly include “drowsiness or insomnia, weight loss or weight gain, rashes, irritability, mental slowing and forgetfulness,” the story says.
Greenhouse concludes that, despite his attempt to control the flow of information, Roberts now confronts a new reality. He “lost his privacy, and with it the aura of invincibility that came with his youthful good looks and spectacular career path.”
