Corzine not wearing seatbelt facing months of rehab

April 13, 2007

New Jersey - New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine was injured in a car accident yesterday and is now facing around 6 months of rehab because he didn't wear his seatbelt.

Corzine's injuries included a severely broken leg that will require two more surgeries and months of rehabilitation, and it will be days before a breathing tube can be removed so he can speak, according to the surgeon who operated on him.

Dr. Robert Ostrum, an orthopedic trauma surgeon at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, said Corzine tolerated the two-hour operation well Thursday night and was moved to the trauma intensive care unit, where he was in critical but stable condition Friday morning.

Corzine was a front seat passenger in an SUV driven by a New Jersey state trooper that crashed on the Garden State Parkway in Galloway Township, just north of Atlantic City, said Corzine spokesman Anthony Coley.

The governor's left thigh bone was broken in two places, with the femur bone popping through the skin, Dr. Ostrum said. His other broken bones include several ribs on each side, his sternum, collar bone and a slightly fractured lower vertebrae, he said. A plastic surgeon also repaired a large cut on the governor's face, Ostrum said.

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