Questions remain concerning the health of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg missed the first two weeks of arguments for the first time in her 25 years as a SCOTUS justice due to her recovery from lung cancer surgery in December.

JUST IN: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will miss arguments for the first time on the Supreme Court. -Ginsburg is recovering from a Dec. 21 surgery to remove cancerous nodules

-Ginsburg will take part in cases using transcripts, court says pic.twitter.com/rbfgnmMVJs — TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) January 7, 2019

Speculation regarding RBG’s health was heightened Monday, January 21, 2019, when Fox News aired a graphic announcing RBG’s death during “Fox & Friends.”

Fox & Friends hosts Ainsley Earhardt and Steve Doocy quickly apologized for the graphic, stating,

“We need to apologize … A technical error in the control room triggered a graphic of RBG with a date on it,” co-host Steve Doocy said later in the show. “We don’t want to make it seem anything other than that was a mistake. That was an accident.” “We apologize, big mistake,” added Earhardt.

A day after the Fox graphic aired, the documentary film depicting the life of RBG (“RBG” – a CNN film) was nominated for “Best Documentary” by the Academy Awards. CNN reported:

Betsy West and Julie Cohen, the filmmakers of “RBG” — a CNN film — said Tuesday they spoke to Ginsburg earlier that day, noting they were the ones who gave her the good news about the film. West and Cohen said Ginsburg “sounded strong and cheerful” and said that she is writing opinions and “continuing to stay on top of work.”

Despite the report from the CNN filmmakers, speculation about RBG’s condition remain. The ongoing battle between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Donald Trump over the timing of the State of the Union has raised questions about why Pelosi has not agreed to allow President Trump to hold the SOTU tomorrow in the House of Representatives’ chamber now that the government shutdown has ended. Conspiracy theorists on Twitter and elsewhere are asking if Pelosi is persisting in blocking SOTU in order to hide the alleged death of RBG.

In an opinion piece published by The Daily Caller, physician Brian Joondeph questioned the media reports that RBG’s SCOTUS absence just meant that she was recovering from surgery.

CNN reported the official statement from the Supreme Court, “Post-surgery evaluation indicates no evidence of remaining disease, and no further treatment is required.” …The statement is curious, however. As a physician myself, I am acutely aware of medical wording and nuance. With medical malpractice attorneys hiding behind every corner, physicians are careful how they create medical statements, especially when there is little absolute certainty in the medical world. “No evidence of remaining disease” could simply mean that they removed the two cancerous nodules they found on a lung scan after her recent fall. If these nodules represent cancer that spread from her previous colon or pancreas cancer, the doctors removed what they found in her lungs. This doesn’t speak for cancer that might have spread to her liver, brain or bones. “No further treatment is required” might imply that she is cancer free. It could also suggest the opposite, that she has metastatic cancer that is no longer treatable, other than hospice care, and that further treatment is futile at this point, hence not required.

The questions swirling around RBG’s health and absence from the public eye have the meme-creators working overtime and people demanding “Proof of Life“.

If Ruth Bader Ginsburg is too weak to sit through a speech, she’s far too weak to do her job. If she misses the State of the Union, she must immediately retire. There’s a reason Pelosi is putting the SOTU off. We should demand a welfare check.

#WheresRuth #SOTU pic.twitter.com/8MmfuFQkDz — Melissa Riley (@honeybee7885) January 26, 2019

A Craigslist ad asking for a person resembling Ruth Bader Ginsburg is also making the Twitter rounds.

As was said by Twitter user Cari Keleman, “If Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s health was improving, you’d think we’d hear about it. Instead, silence…”

If Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s health was improving, you’d think we’d hear about it. Instead, silence… — Cari Kelemen (@KelemenCari) January 28, 2019

Featured Photo credit Twitter, John Wick @Flyboy_1776