Horrible thought. But since 1841, four presidents have died of natural causes while in office (Harrison, Taylor, Harding and Roosevelt), and four have died after being shot by assassins (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy).

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Assassinations aside, it isn't surprising that the health of presidential candidates is often an issue in the preamble to the presidential election. Especially with John McCain being 73 years old, and Sarah Palin possibly waiting on the sidelines to take over. CyberShrink checks out the health report cards of the two candidates.

In some previous contests, every candidate solemnly released detailed medical reports from their physicians, so we learned who had piles and who had scars where. We've seen a leading candidate in years gone by dropped by his party after admitting that he had been treated for depression. (Quite remarkable if you think of the behaviour with which some people in Congress manage to get away).

Interestingly enough, ill health hasn't put an end to the career of Vice-President Cheney. He has been in rather unstable health throughout both terms, with serious heart pathology, pace-makers and procedures, but this never seemed to be seriously considered by the electorate. As the main job of the vice-president is to be available to take over should something nasty happen to the president, this isn't great - and it's very surprising he made the grade twice.

Anyhow, I've been digging around to find out what we can learn about the health of the current crop of presidential candidates. I found the best source of all was our colleagues at the WebMD site who have been asking relevant questions.

Barack Obama
In a 1995 memoir (Dreams from My Father) he revealed that he had tried cocaine and smoked marijuana/dagga as a teenager. Which seems much more frank than Bill Clinton's admission that he had tried marijuana but didn't like it and "didn't inhale".

Responding to pressure from his wife, Obama gave up smoking during the holidays of winter 2006, and told a reporter he has been "chewing Nicorettes strenuously" to help him kick the habit. He exercises regularly, and especially enjoys playing basketball. His mother died of ovarian cancer about a decade ago. His wife, Michelle, knows what she's talking about when it comes to health matters: she was vice-president of community and external affairs for the University of Chicago Medical Center until recently.

Michelle Obama works out regularly and seems pretty healthy. She doesn't seem to have had any major health setbacks. Her father was diagnosed at an early age with multiple sclerosis, and her eldest daughter apparently suffers from asthma.

John McCain
There have been concerns about McCain's age (73) - if elected, he would be older on taking office than any previous American President.

His health is an especially legitimate concern, and he has announced that he was passed as entirely fit at a very recent medical check-up. He had a cancerous mole removed from his shoulder back in 1993. WebMD says that this mole was diagnosed as a melanoma, which is an especially serious and dangerous form of skin cancer. If a melanoma is identified early, there can be a 10-year survival rate of 97 percent, so he may well remain healthy. But he had a recurrence in 2000, and had surgery to remove two further melanoma lesions, one on his left arm, and one on his left temple. No-one seems to have expressed concern about this in the context of his being able to serve out a full term in office.

It is well known that he was a POW (prisoner-of-war) held in a Vietnamese prison camp for over five years. During this time he suffered multiple injuries, such as a broken right knee in which he now has arthritis. In 2001 he had a procedure to treat an enlarged prostate. He was a smoker until he was 45.

His wife, Cindy, had a mild stroke in April 2004, associated with high blood pressure, but she seems to have recovered very well.

They have a daughter they adopted in 1993, (from an orphanage in Bangladesh), who was born with a cleft palate.

So much for the health of the presidential candidates and their spouses. It remains to be seen who gets chosen, and whether their health lasts the course of a stressful four-year presidency.

(Professor M.A. Simpson, aka CyberShrink, updated October 2008)
 

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