Projo Politics Blog

“Rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated,” Superior Court Presiding Justice Joseph F. Rodgers Jr. said on Thursday, three weeks after collapsing at a social event in Providence.

Rodgers said he left the Licht Judicial Complex on June 28 and walked up College Hill to attend a surprise birthday party for Superior Court Judge Alice B. Gibney. The party was being held at the East Side home of Superior Court Judge Judith C. Savage, and it was a hot and humid day. Rodgers said he didn’t drive because he didn’t want Gibney to see the car and spoil the surprise.

Rodgers, 65, of Narragansett, said he doesn’t recall what happened once he got to the party, but he’s been told that he collapsed soon after arriving. He said it was not a heart attack; his heart stopped because of an arrhythmia.

Superior Court Judge William E. Carnes Jr., a former Lincoln police officer, was at the party, and he administered CPR, Rodgers said. He also received assistance from a bartender who had been trained as a lifeguard. “Thank God for Billy Carnes,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers was taken to Rhode Island Hospital, and a few days later doctors gave Rodgers a pacemaker and defibrillator and unclogged an artery that had been 80 percent blocked. He said that 11 years ago, he had triple bypass surgery, followed by a heart attack.

Rodgers said he returned home on the Fourth of July. “I can’t drive for four weeks,” he said. “And I can’t play golf. That’s the worst part of it.”

Doctors are telling him not to work until after Labor Day. “I’m looking forward to coming back,” Rodgers said.

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