We keep getting told that Ruth Bader Ginsberg is in excellent health.

She is 85-years-old. This is the second time she has fallen and cracked her ribs. It is the third time she has been treated for cancer:

“Washington (CNN)Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had two cancerous nodules removed from her left lung Friday at a New York hospital, the Supreme Court announced.

There is no evidence of any remaining disease, says a court spokesperson, nor is there evidence of disease elsewhere in the body.

The 85-year-old liberal icon was hospitalized last month after a fall in her office in which she fractured three ribs.

Ginsburg has said that she’ll continue to serve on the Supreme Court as long as she’s able to do the job. In 1999, Ginsburg underwent surgery for colorectal cancer, and 10 years later she was treated for early stages of pancreatic cancer. …

CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said that given the time that elapsed between her fall in November and now, it is possible Ginsburg’s physicians appeared to believe the situation was not urgent.

“These were discovered back in early November, November 7 when she had that fall. The operation now six weeks later. So there’s something important in there that doctors thought it was okay to wait six weeks,” Gupta said.

He observed that she might have waited to have the operation at a time when she had several weeks to recover. The justices do not return for official business until January 4. …”