US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recovering from surgery to remove cancer from lung
- Two malignant nodules were removed from the left lung of the 85-year-old Supreme Court justice, leaving no further evidence of the disease, court says
- The cancers were discovered when Ruth Bader Ginsburg was being treated for broken ribs, suffered in a recent fall
US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had surgery on Friday to remove two cancerous nodules from her left lung, a court spokeswoman said, the latest health issue experienced by the 85-year-old liberal jurist.
There is no evidence of any further disease and Ginsburg, one of the court’s nine justices, is “resting comfortably,” spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said in a statement.
Ginsburg, who broke three ribs in a fall last month, underwent a procedure known as a pulmonary lobectomy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, Arberg said. The nodules were initially found as part of the tests she underwent after the earlier fall, Arberg added.
Ginsburg, appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1993, is the senior liberal member of the court, which has a 5-4 conservative majority.
US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ‘up and working’ a day after breaking three ribs in fall
Ginsburg has bounced back from previous medical issues. She was treated in 1999 for colon cancer and again in 2009 for pancreatic cancer, but did not miss any argument sessions either time. In 2014, doctors placed a stent in her right coronary artery to improve blood flow after she reported discomfort following routine exercise. She was released from a hospital the next day.