Where in the World Are McCain's Medical Records?

Let me just add here - that McLame collects a disability pension from the Navy. I'm permanently disabled and believe me, the Federal Government wouldn't give me my stipend if I didn't produce truthful and up-to-date documentation about my disability. Military is even stricter. Think about it. What's McLame trying to hide?

by Steve Perry

It was back in early March when we noted that the McCain campaign was promising the release of their man's medical records "in a month or so." That turned into a pledge they'd be released by April 15. Now the word is May 15.

The delays have occasioned some dark speculations, but McCain's people are pleading logistical difficulties. And that may be so --

because what the McCainiacs have in mind is not really a release of medical records but a carefully managed press event.

The plan, detailed by Dan Nowicki in an excellent Arizona Republic article earlier this month, is to convene a gathering where three of McCain's docs will hold forth and a small gaggle of journalists from the Washington press corps will get to peruse the candidate's medical records for a grand total of 90 minutes. Many more journos -- up to 750 -- are expected to participate in a teleconference, but it appears they won't have any direct access to the files themselves.

The dossier that a privileged few reporters will get an hour and a half to digest is likely to be voluminous. When McCain last gave the press a peek at his medical records in 1999 -- under roughly the same terms as he'll show them this time -- the mound of paper comprised over 1,500 pages. And since then, eight years have passed and McCain has undergone a serious bout with stage II melanoma that necessitated extensive surgery.

The question it all begs, obviously, is what a handful of journalists playing against the clock can possibly do with a massive, undigested file of medical data. In the words of local physician and writer Craig Bowron, "I would just be shocked if they'd be able to make any progress in 90 minutes. If they haven't gone through charts before, they won't know what to look for to begin with. Sometimes, for instance, when someone gets transferred from an outside hospital, they'll have a stack of papers that are half an inch to an inch thick. It's a lot less than 2,000 pages, but most of it's just junk. Stuff you don't really need to know. If you don't know what you're looking for and don't have a particular question in mind, I think it would be pointless."

Bowron, an internist by specialty, tells the Monitor he has a hard time seeing any legitimate point to the exercise.

"If they're trying to frame a public disclosure about his health issues, why would you make it as hard as possible? I can see if they said, all right, if you really want to know, it's all here. Here's your 2000 pages. Go home. But to give them [a huge file] and only give them 90 minutes, it sounds like a game show to me."

Bowron wonders why McCain doesn't just authorize his doctors to release a comprehensive History and Physical -- a standardized summary report known among physicians as an H&P. "A History & Physical has a section for past medical history and previous surgeries and the medications he's on-all that kind of stuff," notes Bowron. "Typically there's a short social history, and then the first chief complaint, then their past medical history, their past surgical history, their allergies, their habits - do they smoke, do they drink? - then their medications, a family history, their physical exam and lab findings, and at the end, an assessment of plan: Here's their major medical problems, and here's what we're doing about it. And I can tell you that a comprehensive History and Physical is not 2000 pages. So why wouldn't they just have [McCain] authorize his doctors to put together an H&P to give to the press? I don't get the Easter egg hunt. Unless you're trying to be evasive."

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