Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Clinton's Pneumonia Raises Questions About Her Overall Health As Well As Campaign's Transparency
On Sunday, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton鈥檚 bout with pneumonia put this common, and commonly dangerous, infectious disease in the spotlight. When we posed some questions about pneumonia to physicians who specialize in lung health, primary care and women鈥檚 health, some surprising facts came to light. (Healy, 9/12)
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said she was feeling much better after a pneumonia diagnosis and promised to release additional medical records this week, moving to contain concerns about her well-being and forthrightness after she stumbled exiting a 9/11 ceremony. The pneumonia diagnosis,聽belatedly disclosed by her campaign Sunday,聽has taken Mrs. Clinton off the road and off-message just as her campaign was working to focus on her agenda. (Meckler, 9/13)
Hillary Clinton's campaign plans to release additional information about the Democratic presidential nominee's health following her pneumonia diagnosis revealed Sunday.聽"In the next couple days, we're going to be releasing additional medical information about Hillary Clinton," spokesman Brian Fallon said on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports."聽Fallon said that "there's no other undisclosed condition; the pneumonia is the extent of it." (Byrnes, 9/12)
How much should presidential candidates tell the public about their health?Hillary Clinton, 68, was recently diagnosed with pneumonia, and the public didn鈥檛 know about it until two days later, when聽she abruptly left聽a Sept. 11 memorial ceremony feeling unwell and needing to be helped into a vehicle. If Donald Trump, 70, were elected, he would be older than any previous president at the start of his first term聽鈥斅燼nd, like Clinton, he hasn鈥檛 released detailed records about his health beyond a doctor鈥檚 letter. Both candidates promised Monday to release more detailed medical records soon. (Pearce, 9/13)
In his second term as president, Dwight Eisenhower looked like an old man. He鈥檇 had a serious heart attack in 1955, requiring extensive hospitalization. Ike later suffered a stroke. In contrast to his seeming senescence, his successor, John F. Kennedy, seemed vibrant and flamboyant. The reality was that Eisenhower was not really that old 鈥 he was just 62 when first elected. And Kennedy wasn't actually that聽 vigorous, and indeed was secretly afflicted by serious medical problems, including Addison鈥檚 disease, that his aides concealed from the public. (Achenbach and Cunningham, 9/12)
For veterans of the presidential campaign trail, getting sick is just part of the candidate鈥檚 job description. So while Hillary Clinton鈥檚 bout with pneumonia and faintness at a Sept. 11 memorial service has set off more speculation about her overall health, old campaign hands don鈥檛 seem nearly as fazed. 鈥淐andidates, like most in high stress/high travel jobs, are constantly dealing with annoying coughs, colds, whatever,鈥 Stuart Stevens, Mitt Romney鈥檚 campaign manager in 2012, told STAT in an email. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to take a day or two off and rest and that just makes it worse. It just happens. To everybody.鈥 (Scott, 9/12)