By NEIL H. SIMON, Media General News Service
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WASHINGTON—Virginia medical doctors joined a pro-Obama group Friday demanding that John McCain fully release his medical records.
McCain, 72, released in May more than 1,100 pages of medical records for a handful of reporters to view for three hours. The records detailed surgeries McCain had to remove skin cancer on his left temple and elsewhere. Records also showed the medications McCain takes to control slightly high cholesterol and to prevent blood clots.
Dr. Nancy Bruckner, a dermatologist in McLean, Va., said in a conference call with reporters that news reports based on those documents suggested that McCain’s doctors were “overly optimistic” in labeling the stage of McCain’s melanoma.
Bruckner cited two reasons McCain’s melanoma should be staged as IIIB instead of IIA. News reporting about medical notes on McCain’s records raised the possibility that McCain has other cancerous lesions (satellite metastases), and a letter from Bethesda Naval Hospital said microscopic cancer cells could be in his bloodstream, she said.
The 10-year survival rate for stage IIIB cancer is 38 percent, according to the American Joint Committee Cancer. The 10-year survival rate for stage IIA cancer is 64 percent.
“There is enough information to tell us the risk is greater than the McCain campaign has admitted,” said Bruckner.
Brave New Films, which organized the call, produces left-leaning political films. It has been circulating a national petition to pressure McCain to release more of his medical records. The group said it has 3,000 signatures on the petition, more than 50 from Virginia doctors.
Other doctors suggested McCain undergo a brain scan to assure the public he is fit to be commander in chief.
Televised periods of “momentary confusion” suggest McCain should be investigated for dementia “to make sure he can function effectively as president without impairment,” said Dr. Hermes Kontos, a cardiologist at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System.
Gail Gitcho, a McCain campaign spokeswoman for Virginia, declined to comment. The campaign’s Web site includes comments from McCain’s doctors about the candidate’s prognosis.
Dr. John D. Eckstein, who has treated McCain since 1992 at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., said: “While it is impossible to predict any person's future health, today I can find no medical reason or problems that would preclude Senator McCain from fulfilling all the duties and obligations of President of the United States.”
(Neil H. Simon can be reached at (202) 662-7669.)
McCain, 72, released in May more than 1,100 pages of medical records for a handful of reporters to view for three hours. The records detailed surgeries McCain had to remove skin cancer on his left temple and elsewhere. Records also showed the medications McCain takes to control slightly high cholesterol and to prevent blood clots.
Dr. Nancy Bruckner, a dermatologist in McLean, Va., said in a conference call with reporters that news reports based on those documents suggested that McCain’s doctors were “overly optimistic” in labeling the stage of McCain’s melanoma.
Bruckner cited two reasons McCain’s melanoma should be staged as IIIB instead of IIA. News reporting about medical notes on McCain’s records raised the possibility that McCain has other cancerous lesions (satellite metastases), and a letter from Bethesda Naval Hospital said microscopic cancer cells could be in his bloodstream, she said.
The 10-year survival rate for stage IIIB cancer is 38 percent, according to the American Joint Committee Cancer. The 10-year survival rate for stage IIA cancer is 64 percent.
“There is enough information to tell us the risk is greater than the McCain campaign has admitted,” said Bruckner.
Brave New Films, which organized the call, produces left-leaning political films. It has been circulating a national petition to pressure McCain to release more of his medical records. The group said it has 3,000 signatures on the petition, more than 50 from Virginia doctors.
Other doctors suggested McCain undergo a brain scan to assure the public he is fit to be commander in chief.
Televised periods of “momentary confusion” suggest McCain should be investigated for dementia “to make sure he can function effectively as president without impairment,” said Dr. Hermes Kontos, a cardiologist at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System.
Gail Gitcho, a McCain campaign spokeswoman for Virginia, declined to comment. The campaign’s Web site includes comments from McCain’s doctors about the candidate’s prognosis.
Dr. John D. Eckstein, who has treated McCain since 1992 at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., said: “While it is impossible to predict any person's future health, today I can find no medical reason or problems that would preclude Senator McCain from fulfilling all the duties and obligations of President of the United States.”
(Neil H. Simon can be reached at (202) 662-7669.)