Biden releases some medical history
Posted: Monday, October 20, 2008 4:15 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Joe Biden
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
SEATTLE, Wash. -- Just over two weeks before Biden could be elected vice president, the Obama campaign granted access to a package medical records for the first time today. The information, provided by Biden to the campaign during the vetting process this summer, is not comprehensive, but appears to indicate that he is in generally good condition.
Biden’s personal physician, Dr. John Eisold, the attending physician of the United States Senate, was not made available to speak with reporters. He did give a briefing to Dr. Matthew Parker, a Washington physician, who relayed information to reporters on a conference call this afternoon. Though he made it clear that he only reviewed the same documents we had, Parker said his impression is that Biden is “in excellent health.”
Included in the 49-page series of documents is a “Problem List” identifying 13 issues, most notably the cerebral aneurism Biden suffered in 1988, as well as a 2006 “atrial fibrillation,” a heart condition that was deemed minor and treated only with aspirin. He is currently on medication for BPH and high cholesterol, and a recent examination found good blood pressure.
Notably, however, the reports provided to the reporters traveling with Biden in Seattle and to others in Washington and Chicago did not include any significant documentation of treatment for the aneurysm. The campaign has promised that there will be some information forwarded later on any follow-ups and brain scans. Dr. Parker, because he only reviewed the records, said he was not in a position to discuss whether additional testing would need to be done.
“The only information I have past that is what you have in front of you,” he said. “I do have a very clear impression from Dr. Eisold, his treating personal physician, that he was fine and everything that needed to be done was being done. But I have the same information that you do.”
The documents do include a report of his treatment in ’06 for a “lone atrial fibrillation.” Biden at the time felt “irregular heartbeat through the course of the afternoon,” and reported that he felt “fatigued, uneasy and the sensation that his heart ‘wasn’t in sync’” Doctors reportedly were “reassured” when a stress test found no “significant structural abnormalities,” and recommended only “lifestyle measures” to decrease risk of further episodes, including regular exercise and decreased caffeine intake (he said he had 7-8 cups a day).
The senator’s last colonoscopy was in 2001, though the documents did not include a report on it. The most recent report from a colonoscopy in 1996 showed that there was a biopsy taken on a 3 mm rectal polyp. It was recommended that he have another colonoscopy within three years.
On the conference call, Parker was asked about, and he confirmed, his donation of $2,300 to the to Obama campaign. Biden communications director Ricki Seidman later added that Parker was identified for the purposes of the call through the campaign’s legal counsel. “We did not screening of Dr. Parker before contacting him about these records, other than for his medical expertise,” she said. “As anyone can look at by Googling his record, he is a very highly-respected doctor in the Washington area.”
Biden spokesperson David Wade said that Eisold does not typically speak to reporters. He has been Biden’s physician since his appointment as the Senate’s attending physician in the mid-90s.
Dr. Parker said that in his conversation with Eisold, “he made it fairly clear to me that Senator Biden was doing beautifully.” Wade reports that Biden “is in terrific health and he’s full of unbridled energy.” Though he does not keep up the kind of routine that his ticketmate does, Biden works out about three days a week on the trail, “and his wife and family always make sure he drinks plenty of water and eats right.”
“After a health scare over 20 years ago, he's been blessed with excellent health,” Wade said.
