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Obama's Health Good, Doctor Says

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The New York Times

Published: May 30, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama, 46, was in "excellent health" at the time of his last examination more than a year ago and has no known medical problems that would affect his ability to serve as president, according to a letter by his physician released Thursday.

The letter is the first publicly released information about Obama's medical history or current condition. The six-paragraph one-page statement summarized the senator's health for the past 21 years and was signed by David L. Scheiner, who said he has been Obama's primary care physician since March 23, 1987.

The undated letter was released less than a week after Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, released his medical records.

On May 23, McCain, who has had surgery for a malignant melanoma on his face, allowed a small number of reporters to sift through more than 1,100 pages of records from the Mayo Clinic for three hours. His doctors answered a limited number of questions in a teleconference in which they said his health was robust.

Aides have said Obama's medical record is thin because he has not had any serious medical problems.
Scheiner wrote he last examined Obama on Jan. 15, 2007. That was one day before Obama created a presidential exploratory committee.

At the time, Scheiner said that Obama had no complaints, that his blood pressure was 90 over 60 and that his pulse was 60 beats a minute.

The peskiest medical problem is his efforts to quit cigarette smoking, which he began at least two decades ago.

Obama "has quit this practice on several occasions and is currently using Nicorette gum with success," Scheiner wrote.

If elected, Obama won't be able to smoke in the Executive Mansion. In 1993, Hillary Rodham Clinton officially declared all areas of the White House smoke-free.

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