Sheriff Block Undergoes 4-Hour Brain Surgery

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block underwent four hours of surgery Monday to remove a blood clot the size of a golf ball from his brain.

Although the sheriff--who is 74 years old and already ailing--survived the operation, his faculties may be “significantly impaired,” a medical source familiar with the case said Monday night.

“He ought to survive,” the source said. “He could make an excellent recovery, but there is also the possibility that he will be significantly impaired cognitively. It will take about three months to tell.”

The blood clot was the result of a hemorrhage in Block’s brain, and is thought to have been precipitated by the longtime sheriff’s chronic kidney failure, said another medical source close to the case.

Most likely, the source said, it was the hemorrhage that caused Block to fall Saturday afternoon in his home. After the fall, the sheriff complained of feeling dizzy and disoriented, and by the time he was transferred from a hospital near his West Hills home to the neurology unit at USC University Hospital about midnight, he could not speak.

After diagnostic tests, Block underwent the four-hour operation to remove the clot in his brain. “It is too early for us to speculate on the length of his hospital stay” or his final prognosis, said Dr. Srinaph Samudrala, the attending surgeon.

The sheriff’s grave injury creates new uncertainties around next week’s election--a difficult fight in which the veteran lawman is seeking a record fifth term against challenger Lee Baca--but also marks an extremely difficult turn of events for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, who must replace a sheriff if he dies or resigns in office.

If Block wins the election--and his supporters have vowed to fight on even if their candidate dies to prevent Baca from winning--then the board may also have to grapple with the implications of prolonged or even permanent incapacity.

On the other hand, news of Block’s deteriorating medical condition may propel Baca into the county’s top law enforcement job, political insiders said Monday night.

“What this whole campaign for sheriff has come down to,” said one, “is that nobody has anything against Baca and that the thing they have against Sherman is something he can’t do anything about: He’s old and he’s sick. This whole thing just makes that point all the more obvious.”

As a consequence, said one county official who asked not to be identified, “Unless he’s struck by lightning, you’re looking at Lee Baca as your next sheriff.”

Block’s aides have downplayed the extent of his illness, even calling several members of the Board of Supervisors late Monday to say that the sheriff was expected to make a full recovery.

One close associate, former Undersheriff Jerry Harper, said that he expected morale to improve among sheriff’s deputies with news that the Block had lived through the surgery.

But as early as Monday morning, officials in Block’s campaign and at the county had begun to make plans for dealing with the frail lawman’s death or incapacity.

At the request of the Sheriff’s Department, the supervisors plan to discuss Block’s condition and a possible succession plan during a closed-session meeting today, county sources said.

Meanwhile, county counsel Lloyd W. Pellman is investigating the board’s options if Block dies, but wins the election anyway, or if he is incapacitated but does not resign.

The county code governing the replacement of the sheriff does not address what happens if the sheriff is alive but incapacitated, and will not resign, several sources said.

Pellman reportedly met with County Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen on Monday to discuss the matter, and is expected to brief the board today.

None of the supervisors would speculate on what the board might do if Block does not recover.

“The language of the County Charter is explicit,” said one supervisor, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The only authority we have is to fill vacancies. There is no vacancy and the charter is silent on the question of what our options are in the case of the sheriff’s incapacity. There may be some state law on that question. We’ve asked the county counsel to look into that. But as of now, we don’t know what the law is.

“In any event, there’s nothing we can or should do before the election. If Sherman wins Tuesday and if he is incapacitated--and those are two big ifs--we’ll have to deal with it.”

“He’s not the first person who’s ever been ill,” said Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who along with all four of her board colleagues has endorsed Block. “People are ill all the time. They’re off work and then they come back.”

If Block resigns, she said, the board would appoint a replacement for him--providing that he wins next Tuesday’s election.

Neither Burke nor her colleagues would comment about who might be appointed in such an event, but speculation has included Undersheriff Mike Graham, a Block protege, and former Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Mark Kroeker.

At Block’s campaign headquarters, spokesman Joseph Scott promised that the fight against Baca would continue, regardless of whether Block recovers before Tuesday’s election.

Scott said he has asked county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky to fill in for the sheriff at campaign events and a television debate Friday, but the supervisor’s office would not confirm that, nor say whether Yaroslavsky would agree.

“We’re not folding the campaign up, because people need a choice,” Scott said. “Two candidates are on the ballot and one of them is going to win.”

Although Scott would not speculate on what would happen if the sheriff does not survive his latest mishap, a high-ranking aide said privately that the campaign would carry on even if he died.

“His name will remain on the ballot and he can still win,” the source said. “At that point, the Board of Supervisors could appoint someone to carry out the term. It would still prevent Lee Baca from becoming sheriff.”

Baca announced that he planned to suspend all campaign appearances “out of respect and concern for Mr. Block, his family and the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department,” his spokesman, Jorge Flores, said Monday night.

Baca has also ordered his staff to remove all references to Block from his campaign literature, and said that his prayers are with the longtime sheriff.

It was clear, however, that Baca’s campaign was keeping close tabs on the sheriff’s state. The challenger put out a brief statement Sunday, wishing the sheriff and his family well, and his campaign staff phoned reporters repeatedly Monday seeking information.

Family, friends and colleagues hovered around Block’s room in the pink-and-beige neurological unit of USC University Hospital on Monday, while a clutch of media waited outside the hospital.

Mostly, however, news of the ailing sheriff, who already has suffered three bouts with cancer and currently undergoes dialysis three times a week, was kept within the tight band of friends and politicians who surround and endorse him.

Hospital staff, in keeping with a request from Block’s family, refused even to release his condition, saying only that it had grown “worse.”

“We certainly wish him a speedy recovery,” Burke said. “He has our prayers and we know that he’s going to be back at work pretty soon.”

“He’s endured so much and overcome so much,” said a spokeswoman for Mayor Richard Riordan, who phoned Block’s room Monday to express support and offer good wishes. “He’s been a fighter all the way, and hopefully that fighting will carry him through.”

Times staff writer Jeffrey L. Rabin contributed to this story.