Despite the stage-managed non-release of his medical records back in May, McCain’s complicated health history continues to crop up as a campaign issue in these final weeks of the election season. This weekend, in a new, two-part series called “Fit to Lead” (as in, “Is the next president….?”), CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta “uncovers the health secrets of presidents past….and future.”
The debut episode will follow Dr. Sanjay Gupta as he investigates the health and medical fitness of past, present and future presidents.
Dr. Gupta will interview former presidential press secretaries Ari Fleischer (George W. Bush), Joe Lockhart (Bill Clinton), Ron Nessen (Gerald Ford) and Jody Powell (Jimmy Carter), as well as three presidential physicians, as part of his inquiry into what it takes to be medically fit for the presidency.
The idea of the hated liberal media digging into the “health secrets” of potential future presidents can’t sit well with the McCain campaign, which continues to pretend their candidate’s medical history is a non-issue. But wishful thinking isn’t working out very well as a campaign strategy. The new CNN series follows a short segment that CNN ran a few days ago showcasing a full page ad in The New York Times from Brave New Films (disclosure: my employer) that featured over 2,700 doctors (now almost 2,900) calling on McCain to release his medical records. Earlier this week, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran an op-ed from a local physician questioning McCain’s health and his lack of candor about it. And in the battleground states, the Indianapolis Star ran a column by former NBC political correspondent Ken Bode raising the issue, the General Media News Service reported on Virginia doctors calling for a full release of McCain’s medical records, and a letter to the editor by a physician ran on the website of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News — all just today.
McCain has had four bouts with melanoma. In 2000, surgeons removed a lesion from his left temple. The lesion was deemed by one team of pathologists to be a Stage IIA melanoma and by a second team of pathologists to be a Stage IIIB. The survival rates for the two stages differ drastically. No matter how many times the McCain campaign says they’ve answered everyone’s questions about the candidate’s health, the most basic and fundamental of those questions — how advanced is McCain’s cancer? — remains a mystery.
One of the doctors featured in the ad in the Times was Rachael Clark, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Clark elaborates on her concerns:
As a dermatologist and immunologist who cares for people with skin cancer, I feel it is important that people understand how quickly and fatally melanoma can recur, sometimes with years of remission preceding a rapid decline. There are several questions regarding Senator McCain’s melanoma that could use clarification but I believe the main question is whether the lesion removed from his left temple in 2000 contained a local satellite metastasis or a second primary melanoma. The former has a significantly worse prognosis. Senator McCain had an abdominal CT that was negative in 3/08, which is encouraging. I hope that Senator McCain’s melanoma never recurs. I think his history proves that he is a brave man who deserves a full and complex life.
Melanoma aside, actuarial tables suggest there is a 33% chance that Sen. McCain will die within the next 8 years. This would be less of an issue with another running mate but a President in a position to appoint Supreme Court justices who believes that abortion should be denied to women who have been raped is terrifying to me, as a woman and as a physician. In countries where abortion is outlawed, infection from illegal abortions is one of the leading causes of death among women of child bearing age. People tell me it could never happen in the United States. I hope that is true. The possibility that Governor Palin, while Mayor of Wasilla, was aware of the fact that woman who were raped in her jurisdiction were charged for the rape kits used to collect evidence and to identify their attackers is equally troubling. I am concerned that electing Senator McCain and then having him die in office would put the rights of women back many years. Women without empathy, understanding or intellectual curiosity are more dangerous than even the most savage of men.
Senator McCain is not my first choice for president but I respect him as an individual and I admire many things about him personally. However, given his history of a serious melanoma and his choice of running mate, I would ask that he at least release all history relevant to his melanoma in full and without restriction so that the impact of this disease on his longevity can be accurately assessed. His failure to do so reflects a lack of candor and responsibility that is troubling for someone seeking the office of President of the United States.
The longer McCain keeps his medical records a secret, the louder these questions will be voiced.
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