Deja Vu

Public Health

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Barack Obama,

elections,

illness,

Joe Biden,

John McCain,

U.S. president,

William Henry Harrison

“Many Holes in Disclosure of Nominees’ Health,” by Lawrence K. Altman, M.D., The New York Times, Oct. 20, 2008.

Fifteen days before the election, serious gaps remain in the public’s knowledge about the health of the presidential and vice-presidential nominees. The limited information provided by the candidates is a striking departure from recent campaigns, in which many candidates and their doctors were more forthcoming….

If elected, Senator John McCain of Arizona, 72, the Republican nominee, would be the oldest man to be sworn in to a first term as president and the first cancer survivor to win the office. The scars on his puffy left cheek are cosmetic reminders of the extensive surgery he underwent in 2000 to remove a malignant melanoma….

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, 65, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, had emergency surgery in 1988 for an aneurysm in an artery in his brain and elective surgery for a second one. His campaign released 49 pages of medical records to The New York Times late last week showing that he was healthy, but the documents did not indicate whether he had had a test in recent years to detect any new aneurysm.

Letter to Daniel Webster, by Thomas Miller, M.D. et al., 1841.

William Henry Harrison owns the dubious distinctions of both delivering the longest inaugural address of any U.S. president (nearly 7,500 words) and of enjoying the shortest tenure as chief executive (30 days).

To the Hon. D. Webster, Secretary of State:

On Saturday, March 27, 1841, President Harrison, after several days’ previous indisposition, was seized with a chill and other symptoms of fever. The next day pneumonia, with congestion of the liver and derangement of the stomach and bowels, was ascertained to exist. The age and debility of the patient, with immediate prostration, forbade a resort to general blood letting. Topical depletion, blistering and appropriate internal remedies, subdued, in a great measure, the disease of the lungs and liver, but the stomach and intestines did not regain a healthy condition.

Finally, on the 3d of April, at 3 o’clock, P. M., profuse diarrhoea came on, under which he sank, at 30 minutes to 1 o’clock, on the morning of the 4th.

The last words uttered by the President, as heard by Dr. Worthington, were these: “Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more.”

THOMAS MILLER, M. D.
Attending Physician.

FRED. MAY, M. D.
N. W. WORTHINGTON, M. D.
J. C. HALL, M. D.
ASHTON ALEXANDER, M. D.
Consulting Physicians.

Announcement, by Daniel Webster et al., 1841.

Washington, April 4th, 1841.

An all-wise Providence having suddenly removed from this life WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, late President of the United States, we have thought it our duty, in the recess of Congress, and in the absence of the VICE PRESIDENT from the seat of government, to make this afflicting bereavement known to the country, by this declaration under our hands.

He died at the President’s house, in this city, this 4th day of April, Anno Domini 1841, at thirty minutes before one o’clock in the morning.

The people of the United States, overwhelmed, like ourselves, by an event so unexpected and so melancholy, will derive consolation from knowing that his death was calm and resigned, as his life has been patriotic, useful and distinguished; and that the last utterance of his lips expressed a fervent desire for the perpetuity of the constitution, and the preservation of its true principles. In death, as in life, the happiness of his country was uppermost in his thoughts.

DANIEL WEBSTER, Secretary of State.
THOMAS EWING, Sec. of the Treasury.
JOHN BELL, Sec. of War.
J. J. CRITTENDEN, Attorney General.
FRANCIS GRANGER, Post Master General.

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