Commerce Secretary Bryson takes medical leave after crashes

— -- Commerce Secretary John Bryson said Monday he is taking an immediate leave of absence for medical reasons following a series of car accidents over the weekend attributed to a seizure.

Bryson's office released a letter he sent to the president Monday evening, saying he needed to "focus all of my attention on resolving the health issues that arose over the weekend." His duties were being transferred to Deputy Secretary Rebecca Blank.

The low-profile member of President Obama's Cabinet burst into the headlines after the traffic accidents in which he reportedly suffered a seizure, hit two cars and was the subject of a hit-and-run investigation by police in California.

Obama said earlier Monday that it appeared Bryson's accidents were "health-related in some way," and his team is trying to find out the facts. "My hope is that he is doing all right. … We're going to make sure that obviously he gets the best care, and we will be able to make a determination from there," Obama told TV station KTIV in Sioux City, Iowa.

Bryson, 68, who was confirmed last October as the nation's 37th secretary of Commerce, was driving alone before the accidents, "on private time, not with his security detail," and was hospitalized, then released, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

The Commerce Department announced that Bryson had a seizure, and his overall health is part of the White House inquiry. A Commerce spokesperson who requested anonymity because the subject involved medical matters said Bryson had had no previous seizures.

In a joint statement, the San Gabriel Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Bryson struck two cars in a five-minute period Saturday.

"The San Gabriel collision is under investigation as a felony hit and run," the statement said. In that incident, Bryson, driving a Lexus, allegedly rear-ended a Buick that had stopped at a railroad crossing as a train passed Saturday at 5:05 p.m. The report said Bryson got out and spoke with three men in the other car, then left the scene.

Minutes later, Bryson allegedly hit a Honda Accord in the town of Rosemead, Calif. Officers found Bryson at the wheel unconscious. Paramedics treated him at the scene and transported him to a hospital. At that point, according to the joint statement, "there is no indication that alcohol or drugs played a role in the collisions."

Doctors describe seizures as temporary glitches in brain function. A seizure that starts with partially impaired consciousness can spread through the brain to cause convulsions and total loss of consciousness, says Keith Black, chief of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles. It's entirely plausible, Black says, that a driver having a spreading seizure could "become confused, have some partial loss of consciousness, be involved in an accident, be able to hold a conversation with other people and then drive away and have another accident before becoming unconscious."

A partial seizure that spreads "is a very common pattern," says Orrin Devinsky, a neurologist at New York University's Langone Medical Center.

In nominating Bryson last fall to replace Gary Locke, who was named U.S. ambassador to China, Obama cited Bryson's experience in both the business and environmental worlds. Bryson once worked as general counsel for the Natural Resources Defense Council and served on several corporate boards, including Boeing and Walt Disney. For 18 years, he was CEO of Edison International.