Chief Justice John Roberts, idiopathic seizures, and me
Today, Chief Justice John Roberts suffered an idiopathic seizure; during the seizure, he fell and suffered minor injuries:
Roberts has "fully recovered from the incident," and a neurological evaluation "revealed no cause for concern," the Supreme Court said in a statement.
Doctors called the incident a "benign idiopathic seizure," similar to one suffered by the chief justice in 1993, the court statement said. An idiopathic seizure is one with no identifiable physiological cause.
[...]
A source close to the chief justice told CNN that Roberts fell five to 10 feet after the seizure. The Supreme Court said the fall caused only minor scrapes.
I guess this is something that can strike both liberals and conservatives: I've had two episodes just like this and suffered no long term effects. The first episode occurred in early 1994, and the second was a year and a half later, in late 1995. In both cases, I lost consciousness, began convulsing, and stopped breathing. I don't know if this is true or not, but I was told that during the 1995 episode, my heart stopped beating for a few seconds. Luckily, I was around other people at the time; even though it freaked them out, I'm glad it didn't happen when I was alone.
After both incidents, I went to the doctor the next day. Both times, the doctor ordered blood work, an EEG, an EKG, and other such acronyms. Nothing untoward showed up. When I asked the doctor what had happened, he said, "I don't know --it's just one of those damned things."
I haven't had an episode like that in twelve years, and to this day I still don't know what caused them.
The doctors are telling Roberts it's no big deal; based on personal experience, I tend to believe them.