On Sunday, possibly concerned that his chief current rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Pete Buttigieg, is young and apparently in excellent health, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) reversed his position, saying he would not release comprehensive medical records about his health, reneging on a promise he made in September that he would “absolutely” release his medical records before the Democratic primary season began.
That season began last Tuesday with the Iowa caucuses.
Speaking on Sunday’s Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd pointed out to Sanders what he had said in September before he had a heart attack in early October. Sanders doubled down in late October after his heart attack, telling the Associated Press, “I want to make it comprehensive. The answer is I will, probably by the end of the year.”AP continued, “Campaign manager Faiz Shakir later said more definitively that Sanders does plan to release the records by the end of December. He expects the statement from Sanders’ physician to show Sanders has made a ‘full recovery’ from the heart attack.”
Todd played a tape from September in which Sanders stated, “I think it’s the right thing to do. The American people have the right know whether the person they’re going to be voting for for president is healthy, and we will certainly release our medical records before the primaries. It will certainly be before the first votes are cast.”
Todd continued, “The first votes have already been cast, you did not release your medical records. You released a few letters. Nobody interviewed your doctors. You did have a heart attack, apparently. Shouldn’t voters see your medical records before Super Tuesday?”
Sanders answered, “We have released as much documentation, I think, as any other candidate.”
Todd countered, “But no other candidate has had a heart attack.”
Sanders parried, “Well, look, I am — yeah, no other candidate’s doing four or five events a day, running all over this country –”
Todd, backing down: “I hear you. No, you have proven, I mean, no doubt, you’ve proven your mettle here. But voters, you heard voters have been concerned about your age.”
Sanders complained, “I mean, you can start releasing medical records and it never ends. We have released a substantive part — all of our background. We have doctors who have — cardiologists who are confirming that I am in good health. I am in good health.”
As Yahoo News noted, Sanders “released three brief letters from his doctors ― one primary care physician and two cardiologists ― in December that declared he was in ‘good health currently,’ but he has not released his full medical records.”
After Sanders’ heart attack, Drs. Arturo E. Marchand Jr. and Arjun Gururaj stated at Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas, “After presenting to an outside facility with chest pain, Sen. Sanders was diagnosed with a myocardial infarction. The Senator was stable upon arrival and taken immediately to the cardiac catheterization laboratory, at which time two stents were placed in a blocked coronary artery in a timely fashion. All other arteries were normal.”