At a time when the US presidential candidates are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to flood the airwaves with information about themselves and their positions, it is disturbing that they have provided only limited information about their health, said The International Herald Tribune in an editorial on Tuesday. Excerpts:
The presidency is a physically demanding, hugely stressful job.
There is no excuse for both candidates’ failure to fully disclose medical records that clearly bear on their ability to do that job.
Sen. John McCain has put out far more information than his rival, but under such restricted conditions that it is impossible to nail down the truth about his past melanomas, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. Sen. Barack Obama has put out such meager information that voters have to take it largely on his campaign’s say-so that he is in good health.
McCain allowed a small pool of reporters to review 1,200 pages of medical records during a three-hour period and then allowed a few of his doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona to answer questions by telephone for 45 minutes. The reporters were not allowed to photocopy any documents, making it harder for them to ask other experts what the medical findings might imply.
The most critical questions raised by the McCain documents concern his four melanomas. The records show that army pathologists would have classified one of his melanomas as more severe than his own doctors did. McCain has survived for eight years since that melanoma was removed, but some cancer experts won’t breathe easily until 10 years have passed. In contrast to McCain’s voluminous records, Obama issued an undated, single-page letter from his personal doctor asserting that he is in “excellent health” and that there are no known medical problems that would affect his ability to serve as president. The Obama campaign has refused to make the doctor available for interviews.
