Do voters have a right to know if a candidate is in poor health?

[Quintessence]

Do we have a right to know if the potential leader of our country is in good health? Absolutely.

Why? Do you realize it is straight up illegal in this country to discriminate against someone because of disabilities, whether transitory or chronic, when hiring employees? Considering the president is basically like hiring an employee, why on earth should this be acceptable for a presidential race when it is illegal for everything else? Do you, and the other folks who think they have a right to private medical records so they can engage in currently illegal discrimination, want to repeal the ADA?

 

[fantome profane]

I read everywhere that she has pneumonia and overheated. But I haven't seen any explanations as to if pneumonia leads to over heating. Are doctors saying her over heating is the same problem as the pneumonia?

Anything that causes fever can lead to overheating and dehydration. And fever is one of the symptoms of pneumonia.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pneumonia/symptoms-causes/dxc-20204678

And yes, her doctors are saying her overheating was caused by her pneumonia.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/12/us/politics/hillary-clinton-campaign-pneumonia.html?_r=0

 

[columbus]

I believe that's about to change.

Why?
The USA electorate don't decide the president. The Electoral College does, as was made clear in 2000 when Gore got half a million more votes than Bush.
Hillary has 3 of the 4 biggest states solidly behind her. CA, IL, NY vs TX. And two of the biggest swing states, FL and OH, are leaning that way along with most of the dense Eastern Seaboard. Who cares what IN or OR or LA or WV do? We are just the big green thing people fly over when they are going somewhere important.
Tom

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Just more sexism, underneath it all: http://www.salon.com/2016/09/13/cli...d-way-for-conservatives-to-wallow-in-bigotry/

 

[SkepticThinker]

Why does nobody wonder why Trump has been seeing a gastroenterologist for 35 years?

 

[David1967]

Why? Do you realize it is straight up illegal in this country to discriminate against someone because of disabilities, whether transitory or chronic, when hiring employees? Considering the president is basically like hiring an employee, why on earth should this be acceptable for a presidential race when it is illegal for everything else? Do you, and the other folks who think they have a right to private medical records so they can engage in currently illegal discrimination, want to repeal the ADA?

That's quite a stretch.

 

[metis]

Why does nobody wonder why Trump has been seeing a gastroenterologist for 35 years?

Ya, he must have pneumonia developing.

 

[metis]

Do we have a right to know if the potential leader of our country is in good health? Absolutely.

Yep, and now will Trump release his full medical checkup that he promised for the Dr.Oz show tomorrow. Wanna put a wager on whether he puts forth full disclosure?

BTW, what about his taxes? Why is it that only Hillary is being held for full disclosure ("transparency") while Trump does song & dance?

 

[metis]

Why does nobody wonder why Trump has been seeing a gastroenterologist for 35 years?

Good question!

 

[David1967]

Yep, and now will Trump release his full medical checkup that he promised for the Dr.Oz show tomorrow. Wanna put a wager on whether he puts forth full disclosure?

BTW, what about his taxes? Why is it that only Hillary is being held for full disclosure ("transparency") while Trump does song & dance?

No argument there. He should be subject to the same things that are required from her.

 

[David1967]

Why? Do you realize it is straight up illegal in this country to discriminate against someone because of disabilities, whether transitory or chronic, when hiring employees? Considering the president is basically like hiring an employee, why on earth should this be acceptable for a presidential race when it is illegal for everything else? Do you, and the other folks who think they have a right to private medical records so they can engage in currently illegal discrimination, want to repeal the ADA?

Depends on the job. There are physical requirements for many different jobs. Firemen,
Police officers, pilots, soldiers etc. Are required to pass certain physical qualifications. If we are considering someone to head our country, it is not unreasonable that
we know what their health status is. And I am not singling out Hillary.

 

[McBell]

Depends on the job. There are physical requirements for many different jobs. Firemen,
Police officers, pilots, soldiers etc. Are required to pass certain physical qualifications. If we are considering someone to head our country, it is not unreasonable that
we know what their health status is. And I am not singling out Hillary.

And yet not a single example you present requires said health status to be made available to the public....
Why should the presidents?

 

[David1967]

And yet not a single example you present requires said health status to be made available to the public....
Why should the presidents?

True

 

[BSM1]

Why?
The USA electorate don't decide the president. The Electoral College does, as was made clear in 2000 when Gore got half a million more votes than Bush.
Hillary has 3 of the 4 biggest states solidly behind her. CA, IL, NY vs TX. And two of the biggest swing states, FL and OH, are leaning that way along with most of the dense Eastern Seaboard. Who cares what IN or OR or LA or WV do? We are just the big green thing people fly over when they are going somewhere important.
Tom

So do you believe any president was truly elected?

 

[fantome profane]

Depends on the job. There are physical requirements for many different jobs. Firemen,
Police officers, pilots, soldiers etc. Are required to pass certain physical qualifications. If we are considering someone to head our country, it is not unreasonable that
we know what their health status is. And I am not singling out Hillary.

And yet not a single example you present requires said health status to be made available to the public....
Why should the presidents?

In these cases I think you need to present your health status to those who making the decision of whether or not to hire you. That is why in the case of the democratically elected President the public is informed.

 

[columbus]

So do you believe any president was truly elected?

Of course not. That would be unconstitutional.

I understand why the founding fathers set things up that way, 200 years ago. Information technology was primitive, but decisions had to be made.
In my lifetime, since the Eisenhower administration, the only president to take office when the people clearly voted for someone else was G W Bush. And it was obvious that it happened because of his family connections.
Tom

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Legally, no one is entitled to the health information of another individual. In practice, the general population is ill equipped to judge what is "too poor health" for a political office. And what is "poor health" anyways? We have most certainly had presidents in the past with physical disabilities and mental disorders, and some of them we regard as the best we've had.

In my lifetime, since the Eisenhower administration, the only president to take office when the people clearly voted for someone else was G W Bush. And it was obvious that it happened because of his family connections.

I still think Gore should have stood his ground and fought instead of tucking his tail and taking such a thing lying down.

 

[Underhill]

I think it's a mountain out of a mole hill.

People get pneumonia all the time. It doesn't necessarily mean you're dying from AIDS or anything.

Especially when you spend 16 hours a day shaking thousands of hands...

 

[Underhill]

I read everywhere that she has pneumonia and overheated. But I haven't seen any explanations as to if pneumonia leads to over heating. Are doctors saying her over heating is the same problem as the pneumonia?

Yes, we have a right to know if the candidate as a health problem which a reasonable person may conclude would hurt his/her performance as President.

I agree. But I also think baseless accusations aren't worthy of a reasonable person.

 

[whirlingmerc]

maybe she was overheated and maybe she had pnuemonia.... she doesn't have a knack for engendering trust and her track record isn't helping her cause in regard to transparency