--- title: Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supporters Are Offering Her Their Ribs description: Ruth Bader Ginsburg's supporters are clearly willing to do anything to make sure she recovers from a fall that landed her in the hospital. canonical: https://time.com/5449074/ruth-bader-ginsburg-broken-ribs/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-08T15:54:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:05:42.979Z og:title: People Want to Donate Their Ribs to Ruth Bader Ginsburg og:description: The Supreme Court justice was hospitalized with three broken ribs og:url: https://time.com/5449074/ruth-bader-ginsburg-broken-ribs/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0cfbb35a6c7780b0/69893e92457a526710d5fd36/ruth-bader-ginsburg-ribs.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Ruth-Bader-Ginsburg-Ribs og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Want to Donate Their Ribs to Ruth Bader Ginsburg twitter:description: The Supreme Court justice was hospitalized with three broken ribs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0cfbb35a6c7780b0/69893e92457a526710d5fd36/ruth-bader-ginsburg-ribs.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Promptly Offer Bones of Their Own After Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fractures Her Ribs > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=de9afc2b-8adc-427a-9a27-7b6afc1a150a&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, 'Doing Great' After Breaking Ribs in Fall, Nephew Says [Watch (HLS stream): Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, 'Doing Great' After Breaking Ribs in Fall, Nephew Says](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/AWVQ1FP1.m3u8) (0:45)  _Published 2018-11-08. The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 8, 2018 3:54 PM UTC The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 8, 2018 3:54 PM UTC [Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s](http://time.com/5357068/ruth-bader-ginsburg-anniversary-confirmation-fight-standard/) supporters are clearly willing to do anything to make sure she recovers from a [fall that landed her in the hospital](http://time.com/5449050/ruth-bader-ginsburg-hospital/) on Thursday. After Ginsburg, who was appointed to the [U.S. Supreme Court](http://time.com/5443814/supreme-court-census-citizenship-trial/) in 1993 by Democratic President Bill Clinton, was hospitalized with three broken ribs following a Wednesday evening fall at her office, some took to social media to jokingly offer up their own ribs to replace her fractured ones. “Where can I donate a rib, or three?” tweeted one RBG fan. “Asking for a Supreme Court justice.” “I will give Ruth Bader Ginsburg all of my ribs if she needs them okay,” wrote another devoted supported. > [](https://twitter.com/Matt%5FD%5FCohen/status/1060538579854782464) > [](https://twitter.com/arb/status/1060535774058184707) Ginsburg was admitted for observation and treatment at George Washington University Hospital in Washington after experiencing discomfort overnight, the Supreme Court said in a [statement](https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/1060533995195244544). She previously broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. See some more reactions below. > [](https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1060540418876686336) > [](https://twitter.com/MissLeslieG/status/1060545463726657536) > [](https://twitter.com/Phil%5FLewis%5F/status/1060543177877348352) > [](https://twitter.com/owillis/status/1060544632164093952) > [](https://twitter.com/laurenduca/status/1060551362281381889) > [](https://twitter.com/JarrettBellini/status/1060539610240040960) > [](https://twitter.com/annamerlan/status/1060538894880555008) > [](https://twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/1060539383009476609) > [](https://twitter.com/Pappiness/status/1060538686201311232) ## Transcript [00:00] mm [ MUSIC ]. Ginsberg broke two ribs in a fall in [00:00] 2012. She also has had two prior bouts with cancer [00:00] and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in [00:00] 2014. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5449074/ruth-bader-ginsburg-broken-ribs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5449074/ruth-bader-ginsburg-broken-ribs/"},"headline":"People Promptly Offer Bones of Their Own After Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fractures Her Ribs","datePublished":"2018-11-08T15:54:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:05:42.979Z","description":"The Supreme Court justice was hospitalized after a fall at her office","url":"https://time.com/5449074/ruth-bader-ginsburg-broken-ribs/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Supreme Court","Ruth Bader Ginsburg"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0cfbb35a6c7780b0/69893e92457a526710d5fd36/ruth-bader-ginsburg-ribs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0cfbb35a6c7780b0/69893e92457a526710d5fd36/ruth-bader-ginsburg-ribs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ruth-Bader-Ginsburg-Ribs","caption":"U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg participates in a lecture September 26, 2018 at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Alex Wong/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5449074/ruth-bader-ginsburg-broken-ribs/","name":"People Promptly Offer Bones of Their Own After Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fractures Her Ribs"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, 'Doing Great' After Breaking Ribs in Fall, Nephew Says","description":"The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/AWVQ1FP1/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-11-08T15:44:52.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/AWVQ1FP1.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5449074/ruth-bader-ginsburg-broken-ribs/","duration":"PT45S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5449074/ruth-bader-ginsburg-broken-ribs/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```