http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...Bvb8v4&refer=usBloomberg.ComNew Jersey's Corzine May Leave Hospital in Week, Doctors Say By Terrence Dopp
April 24
(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, moved from intensive care 11 days after being critically injured in a car wreck, might be out of the hospital in as little as a week, doctors said.
Corzine, 60, was upgraded to stable condition yesterday from critical and moved to a surgical recovery floor at Cooper University Hospital in Camden. The governor could perform some official duties from the hospital or another location, said his chief of staff Tom Shea.
Administration officials could set up video conferencing equipment in Corzine's room, Shea said, or he could run the state from the governor's mansion Drumthwacket in Princeton or from his Hoboken apartment. Shea said he doesn't anticipate needing the equipment at the hospital unless the governor stays there beyond another week.
``Going forward, as we determine the type of rehabilitation the governor's going to have, where that is going to take place, it may be required that we have that sort of capability,'' Shea said at a press briefing yesterday afternoon.
Corzine broke 11 ribs, his collarbone, sternum and left thigh bone in the April 12 crash on the Garden State Parkway. The governor wasn't wearing his seatbelt, according to state police, while riding as the front-seat passenger in a sport- utility vehicle that swerved into a guardrail while trying to avoid a collision.
As of yesterday the governor was awake and alert, talking with family and staff, reading the newspaper, watching television, and eating a regular diet, doctors said. He has eaten a cheeseburger and carrot cake and is being given protein supplemented milk shakes. ``Apparently he likes chocolate,'' Dr. Steven Ross, Cooper's head of trauma at Cooper, said yesterday.
No Rush
Shea said there will be no rush to have the governor return to his duties. Shea said he has held brief, informal conversations with Corzine about a proposal to lease the New Jersey Turnpike and on the governor's proposed $33 billion fiscal 2008 budget.
``Our main focus is getting the governor healthy right now,'' Shea said. ``Then our focus will be getting him back to work.''
Corzine, a Democrat, took office in January 2006 after a Wall Street career as chairman of Goldman, Sachs & Co. and five years as a U.S. senator. The car accident came as Corzine was negotiating a budget with state lawmakers and his administration was studying whether assets such as the turnpike should be sold or leased to pay off state debt.
Drumthwacket
The crash took place while Corzine was on his way to Drumthwacket to mediate a meeting with the Rutgers University women's basketball team and broadcaster Don Imus, who was fired for comments about the team.
Divorced in 2003 after 33 years of marriage, Corzine has three adult children who have been at the hospital.
The governor's recovery has exceeded doctors' expectations. ``He's doing much better than we expect even for a young person with injuries of this significance,'' Ross said yesterday. ``He continues to advance very rapidly.''
Richard Codey, president of the New Jersey Senate, is acting governor until Corzine can return to duty. Codey is a Democrat who led the state for 14 months when former Governor James E. McGreevey resigned after disclosing he had an extra- marital affair with a man.
To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Trenton, New Jersey at tdopp@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: April 24, 2007 00:10 EDT