Five days after having two cancerous growths removed from her left lung last week, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been released from the hospital, Deadline reports.
The 85-year-old is “recuperating at home,” said SCOTUS public information officer Kathleen Arberg.
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Ginsburg had surgery at New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to have two malignant growths removed, though doctors said there’s no trace of any remaining disease, so no further treatment has been planned.
Ginsburg was previously treated for cancer twice in the past — once in 1999 for colon cancer and again in 2009 for pancreatic cancer.
This marks the second time in just a couple of months that Ginsburg was hospitalized. She sought treatment in November for fractured ribs caused by a fall in her office. The cancer in her lung was found during tests to treat the rib fractures, according to a statement.
“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent a pulmonary lobectomy today at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City,” the statement read, according to CNN. “Two nodules in the lower lobe of her left lung were discovered incidentally during tests performed at George Washington University Hospital to diagnose and treat rib fractures sustained in a fall on November 7.”
“According to the thoracic surgeon, Valerie W. Rusch, MD, FACS, both nodules removed during surgery were found to be malignant on initial pathology evaluation,” the statement continued. “Post-surgery, there was no evidence of any remaining disease. Scans performed before surgery indicated no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body. Currently, no further treatment is planned. Justice Ginsburg is resting comfortably and is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days. Updates will be provided as they become available.”
Despite her recent health struggles, if Ginsburg has her way, she’ll stay on the Supreme Court for at least five more years.
“I’m not 85,” Ginsburg told CNN. “My senior colleague, Justice John Paul Stevens, he stepped down when he was 90, so I think I have about at least five more years.”
Ginsburg has served on the court for 25 years and is only the second female justice to ever sit on the court, following Sandra Day O’Connor.
