McCain: Dead Man Walking

Alternet

Over 2,200 Doctors Agree: John McCain Should Release His Medical Records

Why is McCain so secretive about his health history?

But now we're not the only ones crying foul on this issue anymore. Over 2,200 medical experts have highlighted the urgent need for McCain to make his health records public. Just read from a couple of them who agreed to let us publish their comments here.

Joseph Mungai writes:

I used to practice medicine nationally certified in the field of psychiatry as a registered nurse. Chemotherapy has been shown to impair memory and the ability to concentrate and think clearly. PTSD can also negatively effect cognitive function and temperament. However, we must be careful here. Remember the Patriot Major General Smedley Darlington Butler was accused of being mentally ill after exposing a fascist plot here in the U.S. by bankers and industrialists. Certainly we can all agree that his experience leading to many medals of bravery effected his thought process and view of the world. Nevertheless, changed by war he chose to speak truth to power to defend and protect our Constitution, Soldiers and Security of this nation -- above all else. Given other factors involving Senator McCain, like age related diseases and side effects of the other medications he takes we must have his entire medical record collection. His treatment team must be interviewed to find out the whole truth. After all, what kind of background checks and testing are required to become a U.S. secret agent?

And Maggie Jochild has written an even longer post entitled, "John McCain, Dead Man Walking?" which is excerpted here:

Last week, when I got the letter from Robert Greenwald talking about John McCain's refusal to release his medical records to fair scrutiny, the fact that there are 1,000 pages of them (I create medical records for a living, 1,000 pages is EXTREME), and the news that he has had malignant melanoma, deep primaries with removal of lymph nodes, my immediate thought was "Then he's dying." If he were to be elected, he'd have an almost 2 out of 3 chance of having a recurrence if he doesn't have one already. This is not the kind of cancer you count on escaping from. This is not Stage II, as it has been reported: Stage II by definition does not have lymph node involvement. By definition, it must be either Stage III or Stage IV.

Dementia and cancer. McCain stands a very good statistical and actuarial chance of not surviving a first term. It's becoming clear to me that this is exactly what the neocons are counting on to get their own president, whether by his death or non compos mentis.