A site established by Health Care Professionals to Raise Informed and Responsible Questions about John McCain's Health—

Highlights

■ On Memorial Day weekend McCain made available for press review but not photocopying 1173 pages of medical records covering the period after 1999.  The New York Times reporter who had been following McCain's health and pressing for public disclosure was barred from the room.  The reporters who were allowed in had but three hours to read and scribble notes before they were ushered out.  Only one of these reporters was a physician.

■ These limitations on the review of McCain's medical records has made it difficult for journalists and the public to determine whether McCain has health issues that would impair his ability to serve.  A thorough review of news articles, reporters' notes, blogs, public descriptions of his medical history – including the recently released records, raises significant questions about whether McCain is healthy enough to be President.

■ John McCain has had four major bouts with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer – the first in 1993 and the most recent just six years ago in 2002.  What appears to be his most serious bout occurred in 2000, when he had a large melanoma removed from his left temple.  A recently released pathology report from the 2000 surgery and notes of the physicians who treated McCain at the time describe the original tumor removed from McCain's temple as two tumors, a diagnostic fact that calls into question prior representations about the nature and seriousness of JM's disease.  Some of the other doctors' notes released indicate that McCain has had at least twelve biopsies since 2000 on various growths taken from various parts of his body and roughly 50 percent of them have revealed some type of cancer or pre-cancerous growth.[1]  

• One medical journalist has noted "[I]t's what isn't known about his medical history that has dogged so much of [JM's] campaign….  He's had every kind [of skin cancer] including malignant melanoma, the most aggressive and deadly kind…."[2]  Two physicians have suggested in an article posted on the internet that McCain should undergo a whole body PET/CT scan and brain MRI to ensure that he is cancer-free and fit to serve as President.[3] 

Highlight Sources

[1] Marc Ambinder  A Reported Blog On Politics, McCain's Health Records, May 23, 2008 at theatlantic.com/archives Michael D. Shear from the Washington Post shared some of the notes of his review of JM's records with the "pool" of reporters reviewing these records and his notes are posted at the above-described blog.  I do not know if he included all mentions of cancer checkups or all mentions of biopsies or other examinations performed on JM over the last eight years.  This calculation is based on a review of these notes only.  

[2] See video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&vid=f2665427-ec93-43c7-b2c1-d5e6eff7091e&fg=rss&from=34.

[3] See Should We Be Concerned that John McCain Has a History of Skin Cancer?  by Steven Lomazow, MD and Eric Whitman, MD, 5-19-08 http://hnn.us/articles/50518.html(slashes

Undisclosed Health Issues

Despite repeated prodding from the press and promises, John McCain (“JM”) did not release his medical records covering the period after 1999 until May 23, 2008. And when these records finally were “released,” the limitations imposed upon the process of review made it difficult, if not impossible, for journalists to identify any real health issues that might adversely affect JM’s ability to successfully serve.1 Although JM’s doctors have said that “[they could] find no medical reason or problems that would preclude [JM] from fulfilling all the duties and obligations of President of the United States,”2 a review of news articles, blogs, public descriptions of his medical history – including the recently released records -- and informal consultations with physicians raise questions about whether JM and his aides have been forthcoming about the extent, nature, and prognosis of JM’s various bouts with skin cancer, particularly a large, invasive melanoma that was removed from his left temple in 2000.

As described in greater detail below, several pieces of information point to a need for further review and disclosure: (1)the recently released pathology report and doctors’ notes made at the ... Read Entire Document [+]

1 JM released 1,173 pages to twenty select journalists for review, but not copying, over a three hour period on May 23, 2008. JM’s treating physicians, including his internist, dermatologist, and oncological surgeon, agreed to conduct a two hour conference call after the journalists’ review in order to answer their questions but reduced the length of the call to 45 minutes. See Columbia Journalism Review, Covering Candidates’ Medical Records – Larry Altman talks about access and interest by Curtis Brainard at www.cjr.org/the_observatory/covering_candidates_medical_records.

2 See Statement of Health Status Prepared By Mayo Clinic at the Request of Senator John McCain (“Statement of Health Status”) on p. 2 at www.johnmccain.com/mccainrecords/.

"Yet as President Harry Truman opined about presidential disability in 1957, 'We ought not go on trusting to luck to see us through.' ... Today, voters are demanding and receiving more information about the lives of presidential nominees and elected presidents and vice presidents than ever before in US history. The inescapable reality of 21st-century instantaneous communications is that those who aspire to the US presidency surrender almost all privileges and prerogatives related to privacy whether they wish to or not."

—Howard Markel, MD, PhD and Alexandra M. Stern, PhD, "Presidential Health and the Public's Need to Know", The Journal of the American Medical Association, June 4, 2008, Vol. 299, No. 21, p. 2560.

"Although illnesses are unpredictable, the electorate should know as much as possible about the physical and emotional health of our presidential candidates... Should we not require complete disclosure of the physical status of our candidates to the highest public office?"

—Raymond Scalettar, MD, "Presidential Candidate Disability", The Journal of the American Medical Association, June 1, 1984, Vol. 251, No. 21, p. 2811.

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