Doctor Warns 85-Year-Old Ruth Bader Ginsburg Likely Very Ill ‘Media Underestimating Severity of Her Illness’

WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 26: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg participates in a lecture September 26, 2018 at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC. Justice Ginsburg discussed Supreme Court cases from the 2017-2018 term at the lecture. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

In light of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s history of cancers and most recently, a surgery to have cancerous tumors removed from her lungs as well as her absence from the bench, Dr. Joseph Bentivegna writes Bader, 85, is quite ill.

Dr. Bentivegna, M.D. says the media who have commented on Ginsburg’s  health are “underestimating the severity of her illness,” and that “President Trump has a reasonable chance” of replacing Ginsburg in his first term.

If Trump wins reelection, the doctor believes Trump has at least an 80% chance of replacing Ginsburg — we believe that chance is much much higher.

The doctor laid out Ginsburg’s history of illness in his blog post, but points out the most significant thing is the justice’s recent surgery on her lungs to remove tumors.

1. She had non-metastatic colon cancer removed in 1999
2. She had non-metastatic pancreatic cancer removed in 2010.
3. She had a stent placed in her coronary arteries in 2014
4. She fell in November of 2018 and broke three ribs.
5. She had surgery in December of 2018 and had two malignant nodules removed from her lungs.
6. Scans found no other cancer in her body.
7. She is 85 years old and has no history of being a smoker.

According to Dr. Bentivegna, the key here is what type of cancer Ginsburg had on her lungs. It has already been determined that the tumors removed were malignant, however, there is one more layer to this.

The doctor points out that we still don’t know what type of cancer Ginsburg has:

Pathologists can usually determine quickly whether a nodule is benign or malignant, but in order to determine the actually type of cancer (that is the tissue source of the cancer), special preparation is required before microscopic examination. This can take several days or weeks to complete. At the time of this writing, we have no published reports stating the results of these tests – or even if they were ever done.

Dr. Bentivegna says that since the modules were malignant, the odds are very high that this is stage IV or metastatic cancer (meaning it can spread to other organs).

In the most optimistic scenario, the tumors removed were “primary lung tumors” meaning her prognosis could be “excellent” writes the doctor.

However, there another more optimistic possibility: that the tumors removed are primary lung tumors. This is obviously what her doctors hoped for, or else they would not have subjected this frail-appearing 85-year-old woman to this brutal surgery. But it is unusual for there to be two primary tumors in the lungs at once – especially in a non-smoker. But if these are primary tumors and they have been completely excised, her prognosis could be excellent, up to a 92% 5-year survival.

However, if the prognosis were excellent, there would have been published pathology reports stating that Ginsburg had a primary type of cancer.

But if this were the case, there should have been published reports stating that the pathology reports showed this to be a type of primary lung cancer. At the time of this writing, this has not occurred. Furthermore Justice Ginsburg appears to be so incapacitated that she cannot attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court – but this could be because she needs more time to recover from her surgery, not because she has cancer.

In the penultimate paragraph of his blog post, Dr. Bentivegna writes that the doctors and the media who have commented on Ginsburg’s health are “underestimating the severity of her illness.”

But in my medical opinion, the doctors and the media who have commented on her health are underestimating the severity of her illness. Here is the bottom line: President Trump has a reasonable chance – at least 35% – of replacing Justice Ginsburg if he finishes his term. If he wins reelection and survives four years, his chance of replacing her is at least 80%.

But as the Italians say at wedding anniversaries: “Cent anni.” (“May you live 100 hundred years.”) That is my wish for Justice Ginsburg.

I would like to thank my friend and colleague Dr. Mehdi Saeedi for his invaluable comments in helping me write this article.

Ginsberg isn’t even in Washington D.C.; she is in New York ‘working from home’ using briefs and transcripts.

A Supreme Court spokesperson said on Friday that Ginsburg will continue to work from home next week and that “her recovery from surgery is on track.”

Dr. Sebastian Gorka said Thursday night that Ginsburg is preparing to step down from the Supreme Court. Are you ready for what will ensue?

H/T Zero Hedge

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Cristina began writing for The Gateway Pundit in 2016 and she is now the Associate Editor.

You can email Cristina Laila here, and read more of Cristina Laila's articles here.

 

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