WASHINGTON — Donald Trump released a physician’s report on his health on Monday, as promised, and there wasn’t a lot of detail — but there were a lot of superlatives.
Like “astonishingly excellent.” And “extraordinary.”
And this one: “If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
That was the conclusion from the presidential candidate’s personal physician, Dr. Harold N. Bornstein of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, in a one-page letter released by the Trump campaign. It didn’t show “perfection,” as Trump said it would when he tweeted earlier this month about the upcoming release. But the tone was so enthusiastic that it came close.
Bornstein said Trump, 69, has had “no significant medical problems” over the last 39 years, noting that he takes 81 milligrams of aspirin and a “low dose” of statin every day. The doctor said his blood pressure and laboratory tests were “astonishingly excellent,” adding that Trump has lost 15 pounds in the last year and has never used alcohol or tobacco.
Bornstein also wrote that Trump “has suffered no form of cancer,” and characterized his level of prostate-specific antigens as “very low.” A high PSA level can be an indication of prostate cancer. The doctor said Trump “has never had a knee, hip, or shoulder replacement” and that his only surgery was an appendectomy when he was 10.
The doctor also claimed that Trump’s “physical strength and stamina are extraordinary” — using a phrase that echoes Trump’s taunts of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, whom he has accused of not having the “strength or stamina to be president.”
The other presidential candidates who have released their health information — Clinton, Jeb Bush, and Chris Christie — have all done so through summaries from their personal physicians as well. But Trump’s letter is shorter than the others, and both Clinton and Bush have acknowledged health issues.
Clinton’s letter detailed the concussion she suffered as secretary of state, and Bush’s statement acknowledged “vitamin D insufficiency, gastritis, colon polyps, sinusitis, and low-back pain.”
