Health Over Stealth

The two main political party candidates

On September 11th, Hillary Clinton attended a 9/11 memorial in New York, but left abruptly due to the heat. However, when she went to go get into her van to go, she was seen stumbling, and needed to get dragged into the van by some bodyguards. See HERE for videos on Hillary's fumble. She was shortly after diagnosed with pneumonia because of dehydration and overheat.

Now many people are asking if candidates health records should become public. This is of course a very big issue this election year, as both the candidates are around 70 years old. Hillary's incident with pneumonia has certainly put a wrench in Clinton's campaign. Donald Trump however respond very confidently to these demands. He says that he will 100% release his medical records if Hillary does the same. He has however, already released a doctors note from his gastroenterologist that says,"If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual elected to the presidency” (Politico). Trump's doctor recently also stated that his mental health was excellent as well.

This is becoming an issue, not only because of Hillary's recent debacle, but also because of past disappointments. Some can relate this issue to Warren Harding, our 29th president, who died just two years into his term from a heart failure. Another example could even be Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, who kept his diagnosis of tuberculosis under wraps, only to die one year after a partitioning South Asia. It could be just like George Ana, chairman of the department of health law, bioethics and human rights at Boston University School of Public Health, says, "Why do some open up? I think the ones who talk believe they are better off with the information out there. They must think the speculation is worse than the reality" (CNN). However if it's one thing that all this speculation does, it's raise the question. Should the presidential candidates bring their health out of stealth?