Experts Split on Whether Chief Justice Roberts Has Epilepsy

Seizures may be caused by epilepsy, which can be controlled with medication.

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
Wednesday, August 1, 2007; 12:00 AM

Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

TUESDAY, July 31 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts walked out of a Maine hospital Tuesday morning with a clean bill of health, one day after suffering a seizure and falling on a dock near his summer home.

But doctors interviewed by HealthDay were divided on whether the seizure -- the second one the 52-year-old jurist has suffered in 14 years -- is a sign that Roberts has epilepsy, a neurological condition that could require him to take anti-seizure medication to control the disorder.

Roberts left Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport shortly before noon after suffering what doctors described as an unexplained seizure near his vacation home in Port Clyde on Hupper Island. The doctors who examined him found no sign of a tumor, stroke or any other explanation for the episode. He plans to continue his summer vacation, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg told the Associated Press.

Roberts' first reported seizure occurred while playing golf in 1993.

In a phone call with President Bush Tuesday morning, Roberts said he was doing well. The chief justice "sounded like he was in great spirits," White House press secretary Tony Snow said, the AP reported.

On Monday, a Supreme Court statement said the chief justice was "fully recovered" from the 2 p.m. seizure and had undergone "a thorough neurological evaluation, which revealed no cause for concern." He was kept overnight as "a precaution," The New York Times reported.

Dr. Steven Pacia, chief of neurology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said that, given this was Roberts' second seizure, it's "likely" that he has epilepsy. "It's the most likely thing based on what we know from what's been released," he said.

Pacia noted that seizures can result from an inherited susceptibility that is trigged by such factors as a lack of sleep or stress. "It sounds to me he does have idiopathic generalized epilepsy syndrome, which means that he has susceptibility to seizures under certain circumstances," he said.