WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Hillary Clinton’s campaign released a letter from her doctor Wednesday describing her treatment for “mild” bacterial pneumonia and painting an overall picture of good health in an attempt to put to rest concerns about her medical condition following her illness over the weekend.
The letter, from Clinton’s doctor, Lisa Bardack, noted that she received a CT scan confirming the pneumonia diagnosis and is now about halfway through a regimen on the antibiotic Levaquin. It came three days after Clinton’s illness caused her to stumble out of a memorial service and forced her off the campaign trail. Clinton’s campaign said the information updates a health history released last year.
The campaign came under fire on Sunday, when Clinton fell ill at a Ground Zero commemoration of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. For 90 minutes after her abrupt departure, when she was seen stumbling into her van, the campaign offered no information on her whereabouts or condition. It was many hours later before aides revealed the pneumonia diagnosis, which had come on Friday.
“The remainder of her complete physical exam was normal and she is in excellent mental condition,” Bardack wrote in the letter. “She is recovering well with antibiotics and rest. She continues to remain healthy and fit to serve as President of the United States.”
Issues surrounding health and transparency have swirled around Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump, in the past several weeks. Clinton, who turns 69 in October, would become the second-oldest president to enter the White House (after Ronald Reagan, who also was 69), while Trump, who turned 70 in June, would be the oldest. Neither has any known major medical problems.
Clinton had previously released more extensive health information than Trump. She has also been the subject of persistent rumors and conspiracy-minded claims about her health. Although her campaign has dismissed such theories as bunk and even sexist, Clinton fed into them by ditching her press corps Sunday and not releasing timely information on her health or whereabouts.
Trump discussed his own health during a taping of “The Dr. Oz Show” on Wednesday morning. He shared some of the results of his most recent physical examination, according to the show, even though earlier top campaign aides told reporters that he would not release any records on set and planned to talk about general wellness, not his personal health history.
At one point during the show, which is scheduled to air Thursday, host Mehmet Oz asked Trump why he has not yet released his medical records, given that his health seems strong.
“Well, I really have no problem in doing it,” Trump said, according to a brief clip released by the show on Wednesday afternoon. “I have it right here. Should I do it? I don’t care. Should I do it?”
Trump then pulled two pieces of paper out of his suit pocket that he said contained test results from his latest physical examination and a letter from Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. In the video clip, Oz is shown studying the two pieces of paper. Reporters were not allowed to attend the taping, and the campaign has not released the documents. The campaign also would not say what sort of medical records Trump plans to release or how many years they cover.
Bardack is the chair of internal medicine at CareMount Medical in Mount Kisco, New York, and has served as Clinton’s personal physician since 2001. Her letter also described various medications that Clinton is taking, including Coumadin, a blood thinner. And it describes Clinton’s normal-ranging vital statistics: blood pressure of 100/70; a pulse of 70; and a total cholesterol level of 189.
Bardack examined Clinton as recently as Wednesday and has done so several other times since she was diagnosed with pneumonia Friday, according to a campaign aide.
The letter shows that Clinton has normal-ranging vital statistics, according to several doctors who reviewed the information but have never treated her. Her blood pressure and cholesterol levels are “good” or “excellent” and place her at low risk for illness for a woman her age, the doctors said.
Clinton has received two vaccinations against pneumonia – Prevnar and Pneumovax – according to the letter. The new information also reveals more about Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis. She was tested with a noncontrast chest CT scan, which discovered a small right middle-lobe pneumonia.
The campaign’s long delay in providing information to the media and the public prompted criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike.
Clinton canceled three days of scheduled campaign events and has been resting at home in Chappaqua, New York. She is expected to return to the campaign trail with an event in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday.
“Obviously I should have gotten some rest sooner,” Clinton said on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” on Monday. “I just didn’t think it was going to be that big a deal.”
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