The Next President's Health

How much disclosure is appropriate?

THE QUESTION of whether presidential candidates should release their medical records, in what form and at what level of detail involves a delicate balance between the public's obvious interest in the health of its next president and the candidates' interest in retaining some shred of privacy. History counsels that, as a general matter, the public's interest should be paramount. Franklin D. Roosevelt's failing health as he ran for a fourth term, John F. Kennedy's Addison's disease, Paul Tsongas's recurrence of the lymphoma that would have killed him during his first term -- all of these health matters were deliberately hidden from the view of a public that was entitled to take them into account in selecting a president.

But there are some limits on what can reasonably be demanded and posted on the Internet for all to see. If a presidential candidate has been raped, or undergone an abortion, or suffered from infertility or sexual dysfunction, that would be part of the medical record, but would it be reasonable to insist that such information be revealed? Are voters entitled to know about minor but embarrassing conditions? More difficult: What about genetic tests indicating a predisposition to certain diseases? Does the principle of genetic nondiscrimination stop at the door to the Oval Office? Would a politician who suffers from depression but also harbors presidential ambitions be deterred from seeking help, or taking needed medication, for fear of eventual disclosure?

Questions about the health of a prospective president are more acute with age. Consequently, it was important that Sen. John McCain, who has suffered three bouts of skin cancer and at 72 would be the oldest person ever elected president, yesterday released -- sort of -- 1,173 pages of medical records spanning eight years. This material comes on top of copious medical records, including psychiatric evaluations, that Mr. McCain made available to reporters during his 2000 campaign.

The McCain campaign's method of disseminating this information, on the Friday before a holiday weekend, left something to be desired. Only a select pool of reporters was able to see the documents, and for a limited period, without the ability to make copies. The campaign did, however, post summaries on its Web site and made Mr. McCain's doctors available for a briefing. This, we might note, was more medical information than has been shared by the campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who have released, respectively, none and none.