Lawrence Altman: “There is no direct correlation between a leader’s health and performance in office. Many historians give a healthy President Carter (who is now age 99) low marks for performance. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was paralyzed by polio at age 39 in 1921 and died of a stroke at age 63 after experiencing high blood pressure and coronary artery disease for years. Still, Roosevelt is judged as one of America’s greatest presidents.”
“That’s because age is more a physiological state of health than a chronological number — a state that can be difficult to measure and is open to varying interpretations; people grow old in different ways at different times in various patterns, making chronological and physiological ages distinct entities. Because candidates rarely release actual medical records, I have learned that the most reliable way to evaluate who is up for the physical and mental demands of the White House is through extensive interviews with the candidates and their doctors. Short of that information, it’s left to the candidates to convince voters they are fit to serve a full term.”
